Camp Konoha
by xXBabyMarioXx
Summary: A Modern Day Naruto story, revolving around a teenage girl who gets sent to a summer camp. It seems normal at first, but Andi Scully soon learns that it's anything but normal.
1. Camp Konoha 00

Name: Andrea Scully

Age: Fifteen

Grade: Just finished Freshman Year of High School

Looks: Brown hair that reaches mid-back and shines red in the sun. Light brown eyes with green flecks, and the iris is surrounded by a dark brown ring. She has naturally tanned skin, but isn't super dark. She's short for her age, and isn't as developed as the other girls her age, but she isn't completely flat. She eats a lot, but is thin due to her active lifestyle and fast metabolism.

Outfit: During the summer and spring, she normally wears tank tops or graphic tees with jean shorts or loose, athletic shorts. Occasionally wears hat (in pic) that her older sister got her.

Personality: She's shy around people she doesn't know, and never makes the first move in making friends. She's too shy to approach people and strike up a conversation. If someone starts talking to her, she'll get a little nervous, but it doesn't take long til she warms up to the person. She is really smart, friendly to people she knows, funny, and likes cracking perverted jokes, though she is in no way a pervert.

Basic Info: She went to a regular grade school, but started being home schooled when she hit high school. She's a genius with an IQ of 145, but tries to hide her high intelligence. She listens to a wide variety of music, enjoys reading, playing racing and RPG video games. She is rarely ever seen without her iPod.

**Prologue**

**CAMP KONOHA!**  
A summer camp for girls and boys aged ten to sixteen.  
Overnight camp runs for six weeks. From Sunday through Saturday, campers play unique games and participate in outdoor activites, including:

**Canoeing and Fishing  
Hiking  
Swimming  
Arts and Crafts  
Nature Projects  
Target and Archery  
Campouts under the Stars  
And much, much more!**

**Make new friends! **Campers stay in same gender cabins with kids in the same age range.**  
Bring your family! **We even have a family weekend! Parents and siblings of camper may come and spend a weekend with their happy camper.

**So sign up today and experience the joys of nature!**

I blinked as the brochure was placed in front of me by my mother. "Are you serious?" I asked her. It's June 7th, four days after my birthday and the day after I finished school.

My mom tossed her long, curly black hair over her shoulder and nodded. "Yes Andrea. This will be a wonderful experience for you. We've been putting this off for too long. You need to go while you're still young enough..."

"I'll go next year!" I exclaimed.

"You said that last year," mother said.

"And the year before that and the year before that and the year before that!" my oldest sister, Angela said, snapping her Tale of Two Cities book shut.

I rolled my eyes. Angela; the model daughter of the family. She's the oldest of the six of us kids and acts like Little Miss Goody Two Shoes.

Tch. Tale of Two Cities. I read that book last year…when I was fourteen.

Angela is the oldest of us all and has long, long medium brown hair that she can sit on and dark brown eyes. She has a baby face, complete with chubby cheeks and a button nose, making her look way younger than she really is. She just finished her freshman year at Christendom College.

She is considered the perfect daughter for several reasons. Number one; she's the oldest at age twenty (she's home on summer break from college). Number two; she always does what she's told without talking back. Number three; she's twenty and has never: drunk, smoked, done drugs or had sex.

Now, don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with never drinking, smoking, doing drugs, or having sex…that's just another reason my parents like her best, even though they insist they like everyone equally.

Well that's just a load, because my mom dislikes me and my older sister, Marian, very strongly.

We both swear, we both get angry easily, we both read 'evil books' and listen to 'evil music' and wear 'inappropriate' clothes. Um…sorry for wearing somewhat fitted shirts and shorts that doesn't go past the knees…

Marian, as I said before, is my older sister. She's eighteen and the second oldest of us all. She has short, layered, dark brown hair that goes just past her shoulders and dark brown eyes. She has a mature face and a very matured chest and, as a result, looks older than she is. So twenty- to thirty-some year old guys are always trying to get her. She's not skinny, actually she's quite fat, but it looks good on her, and she's proud of her body.

She cusses a lot and lost her, eh, innocence, at a young age…which is why our parents don't really like her. She's a genius, like me, but doesn't apply herself. She's leaving for college at Kettering in July. I'm gonna miss her…

Next is me, the recently-turned-fifteen year old of the family. I have light brown hair that shines red in the sun that reaches my mid-back. My eyes are light brown with green flecks and a ring of dark brown/black around the iris. I, just as everyone but Marian, have very tanned skin, since mom is Filipino. I'm short, standing at a whopping five foot two, weigh one hundred two pounds, and am thin with an athletic build that I have from playing soccer half the year and ice hockey the other half.

I'm a genius with an IQ of 145. I love reading books, just not documentaries or mystery novels. I love listening to music of just about every genre, but I don't like jazz or blues. I like some classical pieces, and the only country I listen to are, like, Taylor Swift's punkier ones. I enjoy drawing, but I'm not that good at it. But I am an excellent gamer…when it comes to RPG and racing games anyway…

I'm shy and home-schooled. See, we all go to grade school, but are then home-schooled for high school. So I've always been shy; it's not a result of home schooling. But I'm not totally socially awkward. When I'm around people I'm comfortable with, I'm as chatty as the next person! But around new people…not so much…

Next is William, the only boy of the family. He is thirteen and taller than me. He is tan and has brownish-black hair and dark brown eyes. He has an athletic build as well, and is super awesome at ice hockey. He's kinda a dork, being interested in things like Mario, Power Rangers, Sonic the Hedgehog, Legend of Zelda, Homestar Runner, etc…

But I love him anyway, since he's my brother, and he doesn't let the bullies bother him.

Then there's Dorothy, my second youngest sister. She's eleven, but will be twelve in September. She wears push-up bras, so her chest looks slightly larger than mine, and her butt is more filled out. Her brown hair is layered and styled to make her look older. She's also more outgoing and flirtatious and loves attention. She's had four boyfriends, as opposed to my zero boyfriends… Dorothy wears fitted clothes, way more fitted than mine, but doesn't get yelled at, since no one sees them. Why? Because she wears jackets and pants over them when she leaves the house…

And finally, we have Victoria. She is nine and will be ten in October. She's the youngest and, of course, the most spoiled. Mom and Dad bow to her every wish. She's really rotten and makes fun of everyone…and she's only nine! She absolutely loves Pokémon and has mom and dad buy every pack of cards and every plush toy she sees. She has shoulder length, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and tan skin.

Well…that's my family…

Now that you know everyone, let us return to the feature presentation...

"I think you should go Andrea. Then you'll finally be able to make friends," Dorothy said as she strutted into the kitchen to join in on the conversation.

"I have friends," I muttered.

"Yeah? Who?" Dorothy asked. "And the hockey boys and your invisible friends doesn't count."

"I don't have an invisible friend!" I snapped.

Dorothy smirked. "So you don't have any friends."

"Sure I do! There's, uh..." I trailed off. Damn! She's right. Other than the hockey boys, I don't have any friends. In grade school, I had a few close friends. But they went to high school and I was home schooled. They branched out and made new friends.

"Yeah...that's what I thought..." Dorothy sneered.

"Quit being a bitch Dorothy," Marian said as she entered the kitchen in her work uniform. She was a senior at home while I was a freshman, so we bonded this past year.

"Marian! Don't use such crude language!" Angela exclaimed, covering her ears.

Marian rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I need to go to work. Later," she said, walking out the door.

We were all silent. The only sound was Marian's car starting and then taking off.

"Andrea Grace Scully," my mom said, drawing my attention to her. "You're going, and that's final."

"Please dad!" I pleaded. "I don't want to go to camp!"

My dad, tired from working a long shift at the hospital, sighed and rubbed his temples. "Sorry Andrea, but your mother already said that you were going. I don't want it to seem as if I'm undermining her authority," he replied.

I groaned. Yeah...Dad said that he and mom are equals in decision making, so whoever decides first, that's the answer you get.

Why, oh why, did mom get the brochure first?


	2. Camp Konoha 01

**Chapter One**

Sunday, June 21st. Eight twenty am.

I'm just sitting on my bed, picking at the loosed threads of my pillow sheet. My backpack and duffle bag are packed and sitting by my door, right next to my sleeping bag and pillow.

I'll be at camp for two weeks straight and have packed accordingly. My backpack contains my electronics, such as my iPod and camera, and my books. My duffle bag has my clothes and a Ziploc baggie filled with toiletries.

I skimmed over the list of what to bring once more, triple checking to ensure that I have everything. Nodding in satisfaction, I put the list back on my bed and waited.

"Gracie! We're going now!" Mom called up the stairs.

"Kay!" I yelled back. I hate it when she calls me by my middle name, and she knows it.

I stood, stuck my backpack on my back, grabbed my duffle bag and sleeping bag/pillow with either hands and took one last longing glance around my room.

"Bye Thunder," I said to my male, gray tabby cat. He blinked at me and I smiled.

"Andrea! Let's go!" my mom yelled, snapping me out of my happy moment.

I sighed and trudged down the stairs. I threw my luggage in the trunk, keeping my iPod with me, and sat in the front.

Dad was _supposed_ to come too, but his boss is making him work a twelve hour shift in out of town. So I'm stuck on a two-hour ride with no company but my mom…

My mom just gossiped on her phone with the other St. George (my old grade school) mothers while I drowned her out by blasting my iPod.

"Oh, gotta go Shelley. We're here. Be sure to tell me all about what Mr. Heinz did when I call you back, kay? Alright. Bye!" Mom said, clicking her phone shut. "Well Andrea…we're here."

I never thought I'd be so excited to get to camp. I'd be free of her incessant chatter! I turned my iPod off, unbuckled myself and leapt from the car. Free at last! I went over to the trunk and grabbed my bags and sleeping bag.

"Well come on. I need to be here for your orientation…" mom said, pushing me squarely between my shoulders toward a large cluster of kids who were sitting on logs around a campfire.

After sitting in the _middle_ of a clump of fifteen and sixteen year olds and their parents, my mom began gossiping with the mothers _immediately_.

It doesn't matter that she doesn't know them…she can gossip with anyone!

I slipped away toward a cluster of logs beneath a tree, toward the edge of the group, to be alone. Then I heard her loud, ringing voice, talking about me.

"Now, Andrea here didn't want to go to camp, because she's so shy, but we're sure that it'll be a wonderful experience for her!" mom said to a woman with short, messy brown hair and red markings on her face while pointing at me.

"Mom…" I groaned, burying my face in my hands. I tried to drown out the snickering of the other campers.

"Your mom's a social butterfly too, eh?" a guy asked me, poking me in the arm.

I lifted my head slightly to reveal a boy standing in front of me, bent over so his face was level with mine. He had messy, medium brown hair and similar red markings on his face to the woman's. I blushed. He was cute, and his face was inches from mine.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and lifted my head up before nodding. "Yeah, kinda."

The boy straightened and grinned, revealing two, sharper-than-normal teeth among his regular teeth. "The name's Kiba. Kiba Inuzuka," he said, sticking a hand out.

I timidly took his hand and shook it. "Andrea. Andrea Scully." I said. Kiba grinned and sat next to me.

"For the last time Naruto! You are _not _allowed to go near the archery equipment unattended!" a man with spiky brown hair yelled as he dragged a struggling boy with blond hair and sparkling blue eyes.

Kiba snorted. "That man is Iruka-Sensei, one of the counselors. And that's Naruto Uzumaki. He's one of the regulars, and a troublemaker… like me," he said. "This is my sixth year here. What about you?"

"This is my first year," I said.

Kiba nodded. "Ah…a newbie. I'll show ya the ropes if you need any help," he said.

"That'd be great, thanks," I said. "And, uh, Sensei?" I asked.

"Hmm?" Kiba asked, confused. "Oh! Yeah…instead of Mr. or Miss, we call the counselors, based on their ranks, San, Senpai, Sensei, or Sama…" Kiba explained. I nodded in understanding, still kinda confused.

"Hey Kiba!" Naruto yelled, slipping from Iruka's grasp and running over to join us.

"Hey Naruto! Ready to raise a little hell this year?" Kiba asked Naruto.

"You know it!" Naruto whooped as the two bumped fists. Then he noticed me. He cocked his head to the side and said, "Who's this?"

"This is Andrea. She's a newbie who I'm taking under my wing," Kiba explained.

Naruto grinned a grin that very much resembled the grin of a fox. "Hey Andrea! I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"

I smiled and nodded at him.

Then a boy with raven black hair walked over and sat on the log in front of ours, backwards, so he was facing us.

"Hey Sasuke! How's it been man? I haven't seen you since last summer!" Naruto said to the boy enthusiastically while leaning over and punching him in the shoulder.

The boy, Sasuke, smirked slightly. "Fine. Otogakure High sucks."

"Then come to Konohagakure High with us!" Naruto said.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I would if I were allowed to, idiot. My parents are strict on where I attend," he replied.

Then he noticed me.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Andrea. I'm a first-year," I said.

He nodded and turned away. I stared at him. His hair was...weird. How did he style it like that?

"You can stop staring now," he said coldly. I pulled my gaze away. "Fangirl..." he muttered.

I glared. "I'm not a fangirl!" I exclaimed in protest.

"Then why were you staring?" he asked, glaring.

"Because I was wondering how much gel you used to make your hair like a duck's ass!" I yelled, immediately covering my mouth in embarrassment.

Kiba and Naruto snorted before bursting out laughing. I flinched, afraid of what Sasuke would do. Then he smirked and nodded at me. "Okay. I guess you can hang out with us. Since you're not a fangirl..."

I let out an audible sigh of relief and grinned slightly. "Why would I be a fangirl?"

"Oh, most of the girls at this camp obsess over Sasuke cause he's 'soo good looking'," Naruto said, adding air-quotes while speaking in a high-pitched girly voice.

"Yeah…Sasuke hogs all the girls," Kiba complained.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You're welcome to them. I want nothing to do with them," he insisted.

Kiba chuckled and the three of them just started talking about high school and previous years at camp.

"So Andi..." Naruto said, bringing me into the conversation. "You don't talk much, do ya?"

Andi? Well…that's better than Gracie I suppose. Actually…I kinda like it. I smiled.

I shook my head. "No. I tend to keep to myself most of the time," I replied. Sasuke nodded at me. Apparently he liked to be alone too...

"Yeah, well Andi…you won't be able to keep to yourself _here_…" Kiba said, slinging an arm around my shoulder.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Cause here we do _everything_ together. You're not even allowed to go to the bathroom without a bathroom buddy," Naruto said, rolling his eyes.

"Seriously?" I asked.

The three just nodded.

"Oh how troublesome…there's a girl in my spot…" I heard a guy say lazily.

We all spun around in our seats to reveal a boy with spiky, pineapple-like hair and a chubby boy with reddish-brown hair.

"Don't be rude man," the chubbier boy said to the pineapple boy.

Pineapple boy rolled his eyes before sighing and shoving his hands in his pockets. "Sorry, I guess that was kinda rude. Man…my dad is always telling me to treat girls nicely…" he trailed off. Then he glanced at me. "So, uh, sorry about that," he said, making eye contact with me.

I shrugged. "It's okay. I can move," I said, getting up and sitting on the log in front of the one I was previously sharing with Kiba and Naruto. I was now sitting next to Sasuke, with the both of us sitting backwards to face Kiba and Naruto.

"Thanks," pineapple boy said, sitting on the ground in front of the log and leaning against it. The chubby boy sat beside me, so I was between him and Sasuke.

"Hi! I'm Choji Akimichi!" he said, grabbing and shaking my hand.

"And I'm Shikamaru Nara. Just call me Shika though," pineapple boy said, shaking my hand as well.

"I'm Andrea," I said, nodding at them.

"Hey guys," a guys with dark brown hair and black sunglasses said, approaching us.

"Hey Shino!" they greeted, Naruto more enthusiastically than the others.

Shino looked at me and cocked an eyebrow.

"Andrea," I said.

"Ah," he said with a nod. He then sat down on the log beside Naruto's, Kiba's and Shika's.

"Coming through!" two girls yelled. At their command, the clusters of chatting teenagers and kids parted like the red sea.

Then the two girls approached us and grinned at Sasuke and the others, and frowned when they noticed me sitting beside Sasuke.

One of the girls wore a tight purple belly shirt and short, purple, cheerleader-type skirt. She had long, white-blonde hair with side bangs and light blue eyes.

The other had pink hair, green eyes, and wore a red belly shirt and gray short shorts.

"Who are _you_?" blondie asked.

"Andrea. What about you?" I asked politely.

"Ino Yamanaka. Don't forget it," blondie replied snobbily.

"And I'm Sakura Haruno," pinky said, tossing her short pink hair.

I blinked. "Um…okay…" I said. Why are they so…bitchy?

"H-hey guys…" a girl said timidly as she squeezed through a cluster of thirteen year olds who attempted to grope her larger-than-average chest, followed by a slightly taller boy with a similar appearance. He had pale skin, long, black hair that reached his mid back and had lilac eyes.

"Hey Hinata! Hey Neji!" Naruto and Kiba waved while the others nodded.

Hinata had purplish-blue hair and lilac eyes. She seemed shy…like me. She glanced in Naruto's direction and her face went scarlet.

She sat with the other two girls on the log beside mine and across from Shino's while Neji sat with Shino.

I kept getting disapproving glares and glances from Ino and Sakura. Then Choji leaned over and murmured in my ear, "Don't mind them. They're just like that around people they're not friends with. They'll warm up to you eventually."

I just nodded in thanks.

"Why do some of the teachers have to work here? Iruka-Sensei's glaring at me…" Naruto groaned.

"Well, that's what you get for blowing the science lab up last semester," Choji snickered.

"It was an accident!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You blew up a science lab?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "I used the wrong chemical during one of the labs…"

Sasuke smirked. "That's just like you," he said, shaking his head slowly.

"Um…" I said. They all looked up. "Uh, do you all go to the same high school?" I asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yep! We all went to Konohagakure Academy together, and now we all go to Konohagakure High! …Well, except for Sasuke. His parents made him go to Otogakure High instead…" he trailed off.

"We missed you Sasuke!" Ino and Sakura cooed. I rolled my eyes.

"Guys look it's them," Shika said, nodding in the direction of three teenagers. One of the guys looked to be fifteen. He had short, messy red hair and green eyes, as well as a red, Japanese tattoo on his forehead.

The other boy looked about sixteen and had messy brown hair and brown eyes.

The third person, a girl, had blonde hair tied up in four ponytails and had blue-green eyes that seemed to take everything in.

"Who are they?" I asked.

"They're from Sunagakure High…a rival school of Konohagakure," Shino murmured.

"Oh…" I said slowly.

"But here at camp we're good friends," Naruto said. "Hey Gaara! Kankuro! Temari!" he yelled, standing up and waving.

The older girl and boy grinned while the redhead nodded as they walked over to us.

"They're a little weird though. Temari's kinda…crude and always speaks her mind," Sakura said as Temari cussed out some fourteen year old boy who got in her way.

"Kankuro hates kids," Kiba said.

"Out of the way squirt!" Kankuro yelled, shoving a ten year old out of his way.

"And Gaara just scares people," Naruto shrugged. Three kids playing catch stumbled in his way, and Gaara just glared, causing the kids to shiver before running off, terrified.

"Hey guys," Temari said as she and her brothers sat on the log to the left of mine. "Guess who's a counselor-in-training now…"

"You are? Awesome!" Naruto exclaimed, high-fiving her.

"Who's the kid?" Kankuro asked, nodding in my direction.

I scowled. "I'm not a kid. I'm fifteen. And I'm Andrea," I replied.

"First year?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded.

"Nice jacket," Temari said, nodding.

I looked down. I was wearing an All Time Low shirt with paint splatters on it. "Thanks," I said with a smile.

"You like the band?" she asked.

"I wouldn't wear this otherwise," I stated.

Temari smirked and nodded. "Yeah. I guess you're cool enough to hang with."

"…Um, thanks I guess," I said, not sure how to reply.

"So where do you go to school?" Sakura asked me.

I blushed and ducked my head. "Oh, um, I'm home-schooled…" I replied shyly.

"You are? No way!" Kiba exclaimed.

I looked up. "What do you mean?" I asked.

Kiba shrugged. "I thought that all home-schooled kids were ugly mole-people who have no social-interaction skills," he said.

I blushed. "Um, I've never met a single home-schooled kid like that. Besides, I went to St. George for grade school. This past school year was only my first year of being home-schooled."

"Oh…that explains things…" Kiba said with a nod.

"Hey…St. George…where's that?" Choji asked.

"In Erie. Where's Konohagakure High? And Otogakure High? And Sunagakure High?" I asked.

"In Massachusetts," Naruto said.

Upon seeing my shocked face, Sasuke said, "They're elite boarding schools."

"…Oh…that makes sense…" I said.

"Otogakure High, or just Oto, is in Oregon. It's an elite school for music and sports protégée, which is why I'm going there," Sasuke said.

"You a music or sports guy?" I asked him.

"Sports. Soccer, actually," he said.

"And Suna is in Arizona. It's a school for all elites; sports protégée, geniuses, artists, or just plain rich kids," Kankuro said.

"Ah…" I nodded.

"Same with Konoha," Choji said. "Rich kids, smart kids, extremely talented kids…"

"Lee, I swear to God! If you say 'the power of youth prevails' one more time, I will kill you!" a girl growled as she and a boy walked over to us.

The girl had brown hair held up in two buns and deep brown eyes. The boy had black hair, cut in a bowl-cut style and big eyes, topped off with big, bushy eyebrows.

Some of the people I was sitting with snickered.

"Hey Tenten, hey Lee," Sakura said, waving.

"Hello Sakura!" Lee exclaimed.

"Hey guys," Tenten said, squeezing onto the three-person log which Sakura, Ino, and Hinata were already sitting on. Lee grinned and sat with Shino and Neji.

"This is Andi. She'll be hanging with us this year," Naruto said, pointing to me.

I smiled and nodded. "Hey."

They grinned and nodded back.

I smiled. I was really lucky to have sat in their spot. If I hadn't…who knows? I'd probably be sitting by myself, too nervous to talk to anyone…


	3. Camp Konoha 02

**Chapter Two**

"It's official," Temari announced suddenly, reading a text message. "All of the Akatsuki are now counselors."

"Even _Tobi_?" Tenten asked incredulously.

Temari nodded, eyebrows raised.

"Akatsuki? Tobi? I'm confused…" I said.

"The Akatsuki are a group of Konohagakure High students that graduated that are all friends. Tobi, Deidara, and Sasori only just graduated this year and are now junior counselors. Kisame, Itachi, Hidan, Kakuzu, and Zetsu are regular counselors. Konan and Pein are senior counselors." Kiba explained.

"Ohh…" I said, nodding slowly.

"I know it's kinda confusing, but you'll get the hang of it eventually," Temari said, leaning over and slapping my back in a friendly way.

I gave her a grateful smile. "Um…since this is called Camp Konoha, and there are people from Konoha High here…eh, how come non-Konoha High students can come here?" I asked, curious.

"Oh, I'll explain," Sakura said, straightening up and smiling. She closed her eyes and adopted a teaching pose and began. "Well, Camp Konoha was originally founded years ago as an Academic Summer Camp for students of Konoha High to continue their studies even during the summer."

Kiba snorted. "But _that _didn't work out…" he laughed. A few of us snickered, but were silenced by a glare from Sakura, who continued.

"So…Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage-" she began, but I cut her off.

"What is a Hokage?" I asked.

"A Hokage is what we call Konoha High's principal," Ino said. "But…Minato died, so Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, took over again. Then _he _died, and now Lady Tsunade is the _Fifth _Hokage!"

"Got it," I said with a nod.

"Anyway…" Sakura said, clearing her throat loudly. "Minato decided years ago that Camp Konoha would be a great time for all the Elite Schools, such as Kirigakure, Sunagakure, Otogakure, and so on, to get along as friends!" she stopped and grinned. "And, of course, we let those from non-elite schools to come too…"

Naruto nodded. "Yep. And some of the Konoha High teachers work here over the summer either for fun or so they have something to do," he said.

"Yeah," Tenten said. "And whenever someone from one of the Elite Schools comes from the first time, they carve their school's symbol onto that pole," she said, pointing at a tall, wooden pole with carvings of leaves, waterfalls, rocks, music notes, and the like covering it.

I grinned. This would be fun. I'd be hanging out with people from Elite Schools!

"Welcome to Camp Konoha!" a loud, booming voice yelled.

Everyone fell silent and turned to face the speaker, a man with black hair and a beard and had a cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

"I'm Asuma, and Lady Tsunade assigned me to make the announcements. So…welcome back to all returning campers and welcome to all the newbies!" he exclaimed.

He looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties. He gave off the aura of a friendly, easy-going, fun guy. I like him.

He then went on to explain the rules of the camp, schedules, and counselors…

"Our cabin counselors this year are myself, Kurenai, Kakashi, Gai, Kotetsu, Izumo, Shizune, Anko and Anko," he said.

"I hope I have Kurenai as my cabin counselor," Hinata said, poking her finger tips together.

"We always get her Hinata," Tenten said.

Ino nodded. "Yeah. It would suck to get Anko though. That woman is insane!"

Kiba smirked. "Remember when she was sports director back when we were ten?"

Naruto nodded vigorously. "How could I forget? I was on the losing team, so I was hung upside-down by my ankles from the roof!"

"You _what_?" I asked, shocked.

Kankuro shrugged. "That's not that big of a punishment, considering it came from Anko…"

"Who _is_ Anko anyway?" I asked.

"Her," Temari said, nodding in the direction of a woman with short, spiky, purplish-black hair and a smirk plastered on her face.

"She's the disciplinarian at Konoha High. Detention with her sucks," Naruto muttered.

"You would know," Choji joked.

Naruto just shrugged.

We quieted down and resumed listening to Asuma speak. "And our Akatsuki members are all sports counselors, with Pein in charge of Special Activities…"

"That's Deidara," Temari said, pointing at a guy with long blond hair, tied in a ponytail with his bangs covering the left half of his face. He had bright blue eyes and a small smirk.

"That's Sasori," Choji said, nodding in the direction of a redhead with reddish-brown eyes and a placid face. He had the most beautiful red-brown eyes.

"Tobi," Kiba said with a grin. "He's kinda an idiot," he said, gesturing toward a tall guy with messy black hair and one chocolate brown eye. His left eye was covered with a white eye patch.

"Kisame," Shika said, pointing at a tall, bluish guy with messy blue hair and sharp teeth. 'Shark Man' was the first thing that came to mind. I grinned.

"Itachi…" Sasuke said suddenly. "My older brother…" he said. He didn't point at anyone, but he didn't need to. It was obvious which guy was his brother. He was tall, with his long black hair tied back in a loose ponytail and his ebony eyes gazing emotionlessly at Asuma as he spoke.

"That's Zetsu," Tenten said. My eyes widened. He was half black and half white. I don't mean, like, half African American and half white. No. I mean half his skin was pasty white while the other half was black. If that wasn't odd enough, he had short, mossy green hair and bright yellow eyes.

"That is Kakuzu," Lee said, causing me to tear my eyes away from Zetsu and instead gaze at a tanned man with bright green eyes. He was covered with stitches.

"And that's Hidan. He's got a _really_ bad swearing habit…" Naruto said, pointing at another guy. He was tall and had white hair that was slicked back. He wasn't old. He didn't look a day over twenty in fact. He just had white hair.

"That's Pein," Hinata said quietly. My eyes widened once again as I gazed upon a man with bright orange hair and covered with piercings.

"And that's Konan, his girlfriend," Kankuro said, nodding to a woman with short blue hair with a paper flower pinning it up and a lip ring beneath her lip. She had a full figure, but didn't dress like a skank. Actually, she was in a loose black shirt and somewhat short jean shorts.

"And that's all. Parents and siblings…you're free to leave," Asuma said, closing up his speech. "We'll see you all next weekend for parent's weekend. See ya!"

At that, all the parents and siblings stood up and left in a not-so-orderly fashion.

Then Gaara spoke, for the first time since I'd met him. "Hide me!" he exclaimed quietly, ducking behind Kankuro and Temari.

"Huh?" Temari asked, looking around. Then she smirked. "Aw…it's Gaara's not-so-secret stalker fan-girl…" she cooed.

"Shut up," he muttered, ducking lower.

I swiveled around and looked at the girl Temari was looking at. She looked my age and had short brown hair and black eyes and was looking around for someone; presumably Gaara.

"Who's that?" I asked curiously.

"Matsuri," Kankuro snickered. "She's madly in love with Gaara for some unknown reason."

"Tell me when she's gone," Gaara murmured before slipping noiselessly up into the tree we were under.

"Okay campers! Uh, Matsuri? Sit down please…" Asuma said. Matsuri blushed and hurriedly sat down on a log between a boy and a girl that looked her age.

"Now I'll be assigning you all to cabins. In my cabin…Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Gaara Sabaku, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka!" Asuma yelled. The four guys grinned, and Gaara remained in the tree.

"In our sister cabin," Asuma continued. "With Kurenai, we will have Tenten Yuroi, Ino Yamanaka, Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuga, and Andrea Scully."

We girls grinned at each other.

"And in our brother cabin, Kakashi's cabin, we will have Kankuro Sabaku, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee Masukawa, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha!" Asuma announced.

Asuma continued listing who was in what cabin, but we stopped listening and just spoke among ourselves.

"So…I totally call a top bunk," Tenten said.

"Me too!" Ino said quickly.

"Fine! Then _I_ get the single bed," Sakura announce.

"Oh no way! Why do you get the single bed? It's bigger than the other ones…" Ino whined.

"You already called a top bunk," Sakura shrugged.

"Well, that's because Temari always got the single bed. Every year. So I just automatically assumed that she would get the bed…" Ino explained.

"She's a counselor-in-training now," Tenten said. "So she's not even in our cabin."

"I forgot, okay?" Ino exclaimed.

"How about _I_ decide who gets my old bed," Temari suggested.

All of us girls nodded.

"Whoever can answer this question correctly will get it," Temari said, digging through her bag and pulling out an Algebra II textbook.

"_Why _do you have an Algebra II textbook with you?" I asked. I mean, even _I _wasn't that nerdy…

Temari rolled her eyes. "Dad made me bring it to study. Like _that's _gonna happen though…" she mumbled.

"Alright….let's see…" she murmured, flipping through the pages. "Ah! Here we go! Oh, you'll need these," she said, handing us all a sheet of scrap paper and pencils. She cleared her throat and began reading. "Yellows varied directly as greens squared and inversely as blues. When there were 100 yellows, there were 5 blues but only 1 green. How many blues went with 10 yellows and 10 greens?"

"How do you do these problems?" Sakura asked.

I bit my lip and began scribbling the formula down and filling in the variables. "Five thousand," I said, smiling slightly. If there was one thing that I was good at, it was math.

Everyone blinked at me as Temari flipped to the back of the book to find the answer.

"…How did you do that?" Temari asked.

"You mean she got it _right_?" Ino demanded.

Temari just nodded.

Everyone just stared at me.

I started blushing and scratching the back of my neck nervously. "Um, well, I'm pretty good at math…and, well, uh…" I trailed off. "Home schooling…kinda…paid off…?"

"Just how smart are you?" Tenten asked.

I shrugged.

"What's your IQ?" Hinata asked.

"Uh…145. Why?" I mumbled.

Temari was about to say something, but we all heard a loud crack.

Gaara fell out of the tree and on top of me, knocking me off the log and onto the ground. On my back. With him on top of me. And his face mere inches from mine. His hands were on my chest. And one of my hands was on his chest while the other was near his crotch.

Well, I'm pretty sure that our faces got as red as his hair. And it didn't help that everyone else was either laughing or smirking.

He stammered out an apology and was about to get off me when someone screamed.

"Ah! Gaara! Let go of him you bitch!" Matsuri growled, running over and pulling Gaara off of me.

"Get off of me Matsuri," Gaara muttered, trying to escape from Matsuri's hug. "It wasn't Andrea's fault. I fell on top of her." He finally managed to escape her grasp.

I, still in shock, was still lying on the ground. Gaara sighed and helped me up, apologizing a few more times.

"That's okay," I said, still blushing as I brushed the dirt and grass off of me.

"Matsuri! We're going to the cabin now!" a woman yelled, beckoning the girl that was glaring daggers at me.

We were all silent for a bit until Temari spoke up.

"Well…I guess Andi gets the single bed…" she said, breaking the awkward silence.

We all loosened up after that and just had a casual conversation, but Gaara and I were unable to look each other in the eye.

Talk about awkward…


	4. Camp Konoha 03

**Chapter Three**

"Alright guys," Kurenai said. "This is our cabin!"

"What's it called?" I asked excitedly, looking it over. It was big and wooden, and it looked kinda like a log cabin.

"Cabin C," she said, smiling. I slouched forward. Cabin C? That's not very exciting… I sighed and followed the rest of the girls into the cabin.

"Keep your clothes in here," Sakura said, gesturing toward a brown, wooden chest at the foot of my bed. "And put any personal items you don't want stolen in your locker. Kurenai-Sensei already gave you your combination."

I nodded at her and did as she instructed.

Kurenai, as stated before, is my cabin-counselor. She looks to be about the same age as Asuma and has rich, black curly hair and red eyes and lips. She's really friendly and is a 'big-sister' type person. She is currently getting 'instructions' from Asuma.

I plopped down on my single person bed and lay on my stomach with my chin propped in my hand. Sakura had changed into a regular red shirt and black shorts and was sitting at the edge of her bottom bunk.

Ino, too had changed, and was now wearing jean shorts and the same purple top. She was on her top bunk, above Sakura, and was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and her legs outstretched.

"So Andi…tell us about yourself…" Tenten said, sitting Indian style on her top-bunk and clutching a pillow in her lap.

"Uh…what do you want to know?" I asked.

"Oh, ya know…hobbies, family, boyfriends, if not then boy preferences, whatever…" Ino trailed off.

"Oh. Okay, I like reading, listening to music, playing soccer and ice hockey and petting my cat. I have a mom and a dad, two older sisters, one younger brother, and two younger sisters. I don't have a boyfriend, and I don't really have any preferences." I said.

"You don't have preferences?" Tenten asked, leaning forward.

"Not that I know of," I shrugged.

"Oh…that's too bad…we could've helped you find a guy here…" Hinata said, somewhat disappointedly. She was lying on her stomach on her bed below Tenten's, holding her pillow the long way so her stomach, chest and chin were resting on it.

"Do you all have guys?" I asked.

They all blushed and shook their heads.

"Nope," Sakura said. "But me and Ino like Sasuke. And Hinata likes Naruto. And Tenten likes Neji. And Temari, though she won't admit it, likes Shikamaru…" Sakura explained.

"Oh…why don't you tell them then?" I asked.

They all looked horrified.

"Oh Andi! Don't you know anything? The girls are _never_ supposed to make the first move!" Ino exclaimed.

I was confused. And my face clearly showed it.

"The _guys_ are supposed to be the ones to approach the girls. It's a guy thing I guess," Tenten shrugged.

"Yeah. It damages their pride if they don't make the first move," Sakura said.

"Then…how would _you_ help _me_ get a guy?" I asked.

"We could drop hints or something," Hinata said quietly.

"Yep. But, unfortunately, these guys aren't too bright when it comes to girls, so they're totally oblivious to our affections." Ino sighed.

"Um…I'm pretty sure Sasuke is aware of yours and Sakura's affections. He's just not interested," Temari stated.

We all shrieked and looked around the cabin for Temari. She was leaning on our window from the outside, peering in and smirking at us.

"Temari?_ What_ are you doing?" Tenten demanded.

Temari shrugged off-handedly. "Spying on you girls," she stated simply.

Well, at least she's honest.

"Anyway, I think I know who Andi is crushing on…" Temari said in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah? Who?" I asked.

"My little brother, Gaara, of course! I can just tell. You were all blushing around him," Temari said.

"Was not!" I exclaimed.

"You were as red as a tomato." Temari declared.

"Okay, I blushed around Gaara because; I don't know if you missed it, but he was _on top of me_! And thatwas a littleawkward!" I stated angrily.

Temari just smirked and shrugged. "I still say you like him… And if you don't, well, which guy do you like the most?"

"I don't know them well enough," I said.

She shrugged again. "Whatever. You'll fess up sooner or later. Bye girls," she said, waving at us before walking away.

We were silent as we waved her off. Once she was a good distance away, Tenten turned to me and said, "Temari…you'll get used to her after a while."

I just shrugged.

"Alright girls," Kurenai said, re-entering the cabin. "It's time for lunch. Let's go gather with your brother cabins."

At camp, the ratio of boys to girls is two to one, so there are two 'brother cabins' and one 'sister cabin' in each 'cabin family.' Asuma's is called Cabin A and Kakashi's is called Cabin B._ Real _creative…

We all slid off of our beds and pulled our sneakers or flip-flops on and followed Kurenai-Sensei out the door.

We walked along a scenic, foresty path for about ten minutes until we reached the mess hall.

"Hey Cabins A and B!" Kurenai yelled to Kakashi and Asuma and their cabin kids.

"Hey Cabin C!" Kakashi and Asuma called back, Asuma more enthusiastically than Kakashi. Kakashi had a mask on covering the lower half of his face, and his nose was buried in a book. Upon closer inspection, I realized that he was reading an erotic romance novel for adults…

"So what kind of stuff do they serve for lunch around here?" I asked Ino, who was leaning against a tree and texting.

"Oh, ya know, fruit, sandwiches, Jell-o, juice, brownies…" she trailed off, suddenly becoming more interested in her phone.

"Look I found a slug!" a little boy yelled to another boy and a girl.

The boy who found the bug had spiky black hair and was wearing a blue scarf. The other boy had glasses and a runny nose. The girl had orange hair tied up in two high ponytails. They all looked to be about ten.

Upon seeing the bug, the glasses boy leaned forward and examined it while the girl shrieked and ran away.

"Konohamaru…" Asuma said. "Are you scaring Moegi with bugs again?"

The black-haired boy, Konohamaru, shook his head quickly while the redhead, Moegi, nodded.

"No I wasn't uncle Asuma," Konohamaru said quickly.

"Yes you were," the glasses boy said.

"Shhh! Udon, do you wanna get me in trouble?" Konohamaru hissed to glasses boy.

"You shouldn't lie to your uncle, Konohamaru," Moegi said sassily to Konohamaru.

Konohamaru crossed his arms, furrowed his brows, leaned against a tree, sighed and muttered, "Girls…"

"Hey Konohamaru!" Naruto waved to the boy.

Konohamaru looked up and around for the source of the greeting. As his eyes fell upon Naruto, he grinned and waved excitedly. "Hey Naruto!"

Naruto walked over to him and put his hands behind his head. "Ya know…you'll never get girls to like you if you scare them like that…"

Konohamaru scowled and looked away. "Who said I wanted to impress girls, boss?"

Naruto shrugged.

"Come on Naruto. Get in line if you want food…" Kakashi said boredly.

Naruto waved to Konohamaru and returned to his place in line.

"Important people coming through!" a voice yelled. We all turned to see Deidara marching over, followed by an eye-rolling Sasori and a grinning Tobi.

"Hey! You can't cut!" Temari exclaimed to Deidara as he slipped past her.

"I'm a junior counselor. You're just a counselor-in-training, yeah?" Deidara smirked, placing a finger on her forehead and pushing her back.

Temari then cussed him out, using several words I'd never heard before.

"What's she calling him?" I asked the person nearest me, who happened to be Sasuke.

"She's calling him a cock-sucking gay man…in Japanese," he replied boredly.

My jaw dropped. "I wanna learn how to swear in Japanese!" I exclaimed.

Sasuke smirked. "What? English not good enough?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No. My mom and sister know English. They don't know Japanese though…"

"Now why would you want to swear at your mom and sister?" Neji asked, joining in on the conversation.

I shrugged. "They annoy me. And everytime I swear in English, I get hit or grounded."

They looked shocked. "They _hit_ you?" Neji asked.

Um…wasn't getting hit the norm?

"Yeah. You know, a slap in the face or soap in the mouth…What? What do _your_ parents do to _you_ when you get in trouble?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

"I don't really get in trouble. When I do, they tell me not to do it again," Sasuke said.

"I have to write lines or do chores," Neji said.

I blinked. Whoa. Lucky rich kids…

I opened my mouth to speak, but Sakura interrupted me. "Come on Andi! Our cabin's allowed in first!"

I nodded in farewell to the guys before jogging over to Sakura and the rest of the girls as they piled into the mess hall.

"Hey look Hinata. It's your little sister!" Ino said, pointing to a girl with long, dark hair and lilac eyes.

Hinata smiled and waved at her. "Hi Hanabi!" she called.

"So…Andi…" Sakura said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Do you have any of your siblings here at camp?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Just me." I said before getting back to my Mac&Cheese. Now, this was good macaroni. The macaroni at St. George tasted like glue…

"Check out our schedule!" Tenten said, standing over by the wall. We got up and ran over to her.

"After lunch we have Archery with…Hidan?" Ino exclaimed. "Oh no, no, no! Not _Hidan_!"

"Eh…what's wrong with Hidan?" I asked.

"He's crazy! And he swears _all _the time. Everyone that comes here ends up learning a few more colorful words after one class with Hidan…" Sakura said.

"And after that we have Corral with Kakuzu!" Tenten exclaimed. "But he _hates _animals…"

"Then why is he in charge of Corral?" I asked.

"Well…" Hinata said. "Lady Tsunade assigns everyone. I guess she just picked randomly this year…"

"Oh god," Ino said. "_Tobi _is in charge of Wilderness…"

"Don't we have a campout in the middle of the woods in Wilderness class?" Hinata asked nervously.

Tenten and Sakura nodded.

"We're gonna die!" Ino screeched, causing the entire mess hall to fall silent and stare at us.

"Oh, don't mind her," Sakura said, waving her arms frantically. "Just go back to your eating. There's nothing to see here!"

They all stare at us like we're crazy and then turn back to their food.

Naruto bounds over, followed by Kiba. "What are you guys looking at?" Naruto asked.

"Schedule for today," Tenten said. "We're going to die at our campout this Friday."

"Why?" Kiba asked.

"Tobi's in charge of Wilderness…" Ino said.

The looks on their faces were priceless. I started to snicker, but then realized. If they're worried…I should be too. I mean, I'm in their group!

"Why are you guts so nervous?" I asked.

"Because Tobi is a moron, and we'll get lost and eaten by a bear or something!" Ino exclaimed.

"…I'm pretty sure that there are no bears around here," Kiba said, rolling his eyes. "But we probably will get lost…"

"Guys! Finish eating so we can get to archery!" Kurenai yelled, waving at all of us to get back to our tables.

We sighed and grudgingly made our way back to the table and finished eating. Archery would be a blast…


	5. Camp Konoha 04

**Chapter Four**

"Fuck!" was the first thing that I heard when we arrived at the clearing in the woods. There stood a man fumbling with an armful of arrows and trying desperately not to trip over tree roots. Hidan.

Honestly? He kind of reminded me of a mouse. He had a pointy nose, he had white, slicked back hair, and he had pink eyes. He looked like a white mouse.

"Stupid...fucking...Tsunade...putting me in charge...of Archery!" he growled, simultaneously dropping and catching arrows as they fell toward the forest floor. It would've been quite comical, if he hadn't been swearing so much...

"Ahem" Asuma said, none-too-subtly clearing his throat.

Hidan turned his head to stare at us. "Oh. I didn't know you guys were here," he said, turning completely to face us. Unfortunately, he tripped over a tree root, sending him falling backwards and making him throw the arrows up into the air. "Fuck!"

He threw his arms over his face, protecting himself from the barrage of arrows raining down on him, swearing madly all the while.

"So this is Hidan, huh?" I asked Tenten.

She just nodded, grimacing with her eyebrows raised. "You get used to him eventually. He's actually one of the cooler Akatsuki guys..."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. Way cooler than his buddy Kakuzu...that guy is like a grouchy old man!"

"Alright now listen up bitches," Hidan said, righting himself and shoving the arrows into a pile on the ground. He flipped through a pamphlet, skimming over it and cursing occasionally.

"Okay, everyone grab a bow," Hidan said, swinging an arm over in the direction of a bunch of bows, leaning against a wall.

We all exchanged glances and walked over, grabbing bows that seemed to be a good size for us, while the cabin counselors just walked a bit away and relaxed on the bench. Kakashi pulled his book out and Asuma and Kurenai just talked with each other.

"You hold it _this _way genius," Kankuro said, readjusting my arms.

I rolled my eyes. "Sorry, I've never used a bow and arrow before," I said.

He smirked. "Oh, then this should be interesting..." he said, chuckling.

"Grab some arrows too!" Hidan exclaimed.

"You just said to grab bows," Ino protested.

"Sheesh, I didn't know I'd have to explain every fucking detail to you dumbasses," Hidan said, rolling his eyes. Ino huffed and the rest of us moved toward him, grabbing a handful of arrows before returning to our spots.

"Okay," Hidan said. "Now you need to position the arrow in the...oh fuck it!" he exclaimed, throwing the pamphlet to the floor. "You've all done this before! You don't need me to babysit you guys. Go wild!"

Some of the guys and Tenten grinned, pulling back their arrows and letting them fly. My jaw dropped as Tenten, Neji, and Sasuke got bulls-eyes without even seeming to try.

I took a deep breath and pulled my arrow back, letting it fly.

"Ouch!" I yelled, clutching my arm. "Stupid freaking arrow," I grumbled, throwing the bow down and rubbing my arm. The arrow had rubbed against my arm as it flew, giving me a rug-burn.

Naruto and Kankuro chuckled. "You need this," Naruto said, tossing me some black thing.

"Eh...what is it?" I asked, holding it and examining it.

"Here," Kankuro said, grabbing my wrist and stretching my arm out. He slid the black thing onto my right arm, strapping it tight. "It stops you from getting rug-burns from the arrows," he said, lifting his own arm up to show that he was wearing one.

I looked down the line of people and saw that nearly everyone was wearing one. The only ones that weren't were Neji, Tenten and Sasuke, the pros at Archery.

"Oh...thanks," I said, picking my bow back up and fitting an arrow, aiming carefully.

"You're going to hurt yourself," Kankuro said, standing behind me and grabbing my arms with his. I blushed at the close contact, but ignored it and focused on his instructions.

"Okay," he said, letting go and backing up. "Now release the arrow."

I nodded and did as he said, watching the arrow soar through the air. "Yes!" I exclaimed, jumping up and punching the air as the arrow hit its target.

It wasn't a bullseye, and it didn't even hit the inner ring, but it still hit the target.

"Thanks Kankuro!" I said, grinning at him.

He just chuckled and nodded before letting his own arrow fly.

I grabbed another arrow and fitted it to the bow, aiming carefully. Someone shrieked and I messed up, aiming too high and sending the arrow flying into the trees.

"What's wrong Ino?" Hinata asked Ino, for Ino had been the one to shriek.

"I...I...I killed it!" she exclaimed, pointing to her arrow which was buried in a pile of leaves a good distance away.

"Killed what?" Choji asked. "All I see are leaves..."

Hidan walked over to the pile of leaves and picked the arrow up. Sakura shrieked and Hinata fainted along with Ino.

There, stuck to the tip of the arrow due to the arrow piercing its butt, was a lightly bleeding squirrel.

Hidan threw his head back and burst out laughing. "Alright! Ten bonus points to Cabin C!"

"Bonus points?" I asked. "Like...like what they do in Harry Potter?"

Naruto nodded. "Yep! Activities counselors give cabins points for doing cool stuff. Whoever has the most at the end get to hurl the counselor of their choice into the lake!" he said excitedly.

I grinned. "Cool!"

"Poor squirrel..." Ino said, sitting back up. "I'm sorry for hurting you!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "It's just a squirrel Ino. Everyone dies. That's life..."

"Or, death, rather," I said, shrugging.

Kiba snickered. Ino frowned. "How can you be so heartless? That squirrel was innocent!"

Then the squirrel twitched, sending it falling off of the arrow. Ino and Sakura screamed, hugging onto whoever was closest to them...Sasuke.

He glared and tried to push them off of him, but they had death-grips on him.

The squirrel stood there, momentarily stunned.

Then it got its bearings, jumping and scampering away toward Sakura and Ino.

Ino shrieked. "Ah! Kill it! Kill the beast!" she yelled, jumping and clambering onto Sasuke's back.

Hinata chose this moment to wake up and was shocked to see the 'dead' squirrel on the ground, right in front of her face. "Ahhh!" she screamed, rolling over to get away from it.

"It touched my foot!" Tenten screamed as the squirrel attempted to get away, running over Tenten's shoe in the process.

"I'll kill it," Naruto said, jumping onto the bench and fitting an arrow to his bow.

"No!" Lee exclaimed, standing in front of the now petrified squirrel, blocking Naruto's view. "It is an innocent squirrel. Leave it alone!"

"Aw, you're no fun," Kiba said, lowering his own bow and arrow. He, Naruto, Kankuro, Tenten, and Gaara had arrows at the ready, aiming at the innocent, terrified squirrel.

"Now, be free my friend!" Lee said, waving the squirrel away. It dashed off immediately, running up the closest tree, probably relieved.

"Why are you all surrounding Lee with your arrows pointed at him?" Kurenai asked, joining the whole lot of us. "And why are you two on Sasuke?" she asked Ino and Sakura.

"Um...no reason..." Naruto said.

"We were going to kill a squirrel," Shino deadpanned.

Kurenai sighed. "Well, don't. Just...get back to your archery thing..."

"Okay...time to go to corral!" Asuma announced, clapping his hands to get our attention.

We immediately lowered our arrows, letting them drop to the forest floor. That was a very exciting hour of camp...

"Corral is really fun," Hinata said. "We get to spend an hour with a bunch of animals."

"And watch the bunnies hump each other like there's no tomorrow," Kiba added with a snort.

Sakura frowned. "You guys ruin everything..."

He just shrugged and continued following our cabin counselors.

"Hey Andi," Choji said, walking over beside me. "Look. That's the pond that the counselors get thrown into!" he said, pointing at a small, scum-covered, bug infested pond.

I grimaced. "Ew. It would suck to get thrown in _there_," I said, wrinkling my nose from the stench.

Choji laughed and nodded. "Yeah, but that's the only thing we use the pond for. We go canoeing and fishing in _that _pond," he said, pointing to a big, much cleaner looking pond on the other side.

"Do we go swimming there too?" I asked.

Choji shook his head. "Nope. We swim at the pool. Only crazy people swim in the pond..."

I turned to him, confused. "What do you mean by 'crazy people'?"

"That's the snapping turtle's pond," Shikamaru said, joining us. "It snaps at any unsuspecting swimmer that dares swim in _his _pond..."

Choji grinned. "Remember our first year here? Kiba dared Naruto to swim in the pond!"

Shikamaru laughed along with Choji. "Yeah. He got bitten three times while trying to escape!"

I chuckled. "Aw, poor Naruto..."

"Poor me what?" Naruto asked, whipping his head around at the sound of his name, accompanied by laughter.

"Oh, nothing," Choji said. "We're just talking about when you were chased by the snapping turtle..."

Naruto reddened. "Hey! You guys aren't supposed to talk about that! I was ten!" he exclaimed, shaking his fist animatedly.

"We're here!" Kurenai announced.

We stopped and I stared. There was a small, wooden shack with...llamas in it. There was a black, bearded goat, a bunch of bunnies, chickens, roosters, and even a little horse, all kept in by a giant fence.

Standing in front of the fence was the very grumpy looking Kakuzu. He was in a wife beater and long, baggy shorts, but for some reason he had on a hat/mask type thing.

He was glaring at us with his oddly colored eyes, and his stitches-covered arms were crossed over his chest. He sighed and spread out his arms.

"Welcome to the corral," he said, very unenthusiastically. "You can do whatever the hell you want..." he said, opening the fence and letting all of us file in. The counselors chose to stay outside of the fence and just relax on the grass.

"Well, you've all been here before. So I'll just go-" Kakuzu began, but was cut off by Kankuro.

"Actually, Kakuzu-san, Andi here is a newbie. Soo...you need to introduce her to all the animals," he said, smirking widely.

Kakuzu glared and snarled, clearly annoyed.

"Um, you don't have to," I said.

"Nonsense!" Sakura exclaimed. "You _must _get the proper corral tour, since it's your first time here!"

"Stupid kids," Kakuzu said, glaring at all my giggling friends. I really didn't get what was so funny. "Well, come on," he said, grabbing my shoulder and pushing me toward the goat, everyone else following behind.

"This is...Billy Bob," he said, sighing.

"...Billy Bob?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and snickering along with everyone else.

Kakuzu glared. "Yes, Billy Bob. I didn't name him. Now come on," he said, pushing me in the direction of a chicken coop.

"Henrietta, Lady Cluck, Madame...Madame BockBock," he said, trying to ignore the muffled laughter of all of us. "Princess Feathers, Bockahontas, and Queen Elizacluck," he said, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

All of us were cracking up hysterically; Naruto was even wiping away tears of laughter.

"Stupid Sarutobi letting the campers name them..." he grumbled, glaring at nothing in particular. "The roosters names are Hashirama, Tobirama, Hiruzen, and Minato. They were named after the first four Hokage of Konohagakure High."

I nodded, still giggling about the chickens' names.

We moved on to the llamas.

"This is Joe-llama, Bo-llama, and...Yo-Mama..." Kakuzu said, glaring at us as we started laughing again. Whoever named these animals are my heroes!

"The horse's name is Tsunade. She's a new addition to the corral," Kakuzu said. "And that's it," he said, rubbing his temples and walking away.

"What about the bunnies?" I asked.

Kakuzu shook his head. "We don't bother naming the bunnies. They reproduce and die off too often..."

The guys and a few of the girls snickered and nodded.

"Now, go, play with the animals..." Kakuzu said, waving us away.

"Guys! The bunnies are at it again!" Naruto shouted waving his arms around frantically.

We all ran over to him, pushing each other to see what he was talking about. There, in a cage, were about twelve small bunnies, all of them humping a lone, giant bunny.

"Why are they all on that one?" I asked.

"It's the only girl. The rest are guys," Kankuro said, snickering.

"Come on," Hinata said, tapping my shoulder. "Kakuzu-san didn't show you the little chicks!"

"On to wilderness," Kakashi said without looking up from his book. "Follow us."

We reluctantly left the corral, and Sakura tried to smuggle a chick away in her pocket, but was caught by Kakuzu, who forced her to return the fuzzy black chick.

"But the yellow ones are mean to it!" she protested.

"Well what do ya know," I said, shaking my head. "Even baby chicks are racist!"

Sakura sighed. "Let's just go," she said, rolling her eyes.

We walked for a bit, just trekking through the woods, in search of who knows what...

"Hi!" Tobi exclaimed enthusiastically from his perch fifteen feet above the ground. His bright orange, swirly shirt made him easy to spot, and he waved wildly, making him fall off of the tree branch.

He lay face down on the ground, not moving, and I took a small step forward, worried. Then he jumped up, spreading his arms out dramatically. "Tobi is okay!" he exclaimed, brown eye sparkling, successfully startling and making me jump back into Gaara, making us both fall to the forest floor.

We quickly disentangled ourselves, getting back up without looking at each other. Why does this keep happening with me and Gaara?

"Okay! First...Tobi needs to quiz you all on survival tips!" he said, flipping through a packet of papers.

He grinned. "First question! What do you do if a bear approaches you?" he asked, reading off of the paper. "You!" he said, pointing at me.

"Oh, um...back up slowly or climb a tree?" I answered, more of a question than an answer really.

Tobi looked at the paper. He shook his head. "Nope! You need to charge at it with a stick, screaming 'This is Sparta!'" he exclaimed.

We all just stared at him, slack-jawed.

He blinked and looked back at the paper. "Oh! That's what you're _not _supposed to do!" he said. "Silly Tobi!" he said, slapping his forehead.

We all facepalmed.

He spent the rest of the hour telling us basic survival skills, messing it up quite a few times. If we followed his advice, we'd be dead within a week. Probably less than a week.

"Hurry up and finish your dinner!" Tsunade shouted. "We need to have the Welcome Campfire soon!"

"Marshmallows!" a bunch of kids, and Naruto and Choji, shouted excitedly. We all shoveled the rest of our food into our mouths and took care of our dishes and waited to be dismissed.

Kurenai gathered all of us girls of Cabin C and led us outside, back to the campfire area where we sat during the introduction and announcements.

We all sat beneath the tree like earlier, along with the guys of Cabins A and B. Apparently it's _their _spot, and they sit there every year.

"Hey guys!" Temari said, dropping out of the tree and terrifying Ino and Hinata. "How was your first day Squirt?" she asked, looking directly at me.

I shrugged, frowning slightly at the nickname. I'm not _that _short. But, that's just how Temari is... "Oh, it was fun," I said, grinning.

She smirked and pushed Kankuro off the log, taking his spot beside me.

"Temari!" he exclaimed.

"Counselor-in-training," she said, pointing at herself and smirking at her brother. Kankuro glared and sat on the grass in front of her instead.

"So...do you like scary stories?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"Um, no. Not particularly. Why?" I asked.

He smirked. "Because the Welcome Campfire is basically just roasting marshmallows and telling scary stories."

I paled. I hate, _hate _scary stories. I'm not a coward or anything. And I'm not afraid of the dark or heights or anything. I'm just a _total _sissy when it comes to horror stories and movies. And I do mean sissy. I will tremble and hide under a blanket, hugging my knees to my chest, praying for the movie or story to end.

Temari laughed at my expression and nudged me. "Aw, you'll be fine!" she said. "The counselors stop us if the stories get _too _scary...

My s'mores were long forgotten. The only thing I could think about was the scary story that some twelve year old was telling.

"The boy took a step forward, trying to find out what was making the scratching sound..." he said, holding a flashlight to his face.

He didn't look scary. But _damn _was the story scary! Temari and Sasuke and the others by me looked bored. Only me and Hinata were trembling.

"...he pulled the tree branches back...and there stood...the MURDERER!" he shouted, making most of us jump.

Well, I shrieked and jumped, mainly becuase Temari poked me in the side right as he shouted.

"Get off please," someone said.

I looked down and saw that I was sitting on the chest of an annoyed looking Neji.

"S-s-sorry..." I stammered, crawling off of him and back onto the log, shooting a glare at Temari.

We were all back in our cabins, the scary stories finally over. I lay in bed, trying to fall asleep, but finding it difficult to, due to the fact that those stories were still swirling around in my head.

People can lick too. Chainsaw massacre. Bloody Mary... Damnit I'm such a sissy!

Thankfully, I was eventually able to fall asleep.

Something poked me. I swatted it away, refusing to open my eyes. I was poked again, and I swatted it away again. I was poked once more, and this time I opened my eyes.

"Aughhh!" I shrieked, jumping away from the monsters hovering over my bed and trying to get out of the cabin.

The monsters laughed, and I slowly gained complete consciousness and common sense. Monsters aren't real, and they don't laugh like that.

The masks were removed, and their stood the giggling Tenten, Ino and Sakura. Hinata was still asleep in her bed. She must be a _pretty _heavy sleeper to have not woken up...

"Jerks," I muttered, blushing from embarrassment and stomping back over to bed. I crawled inside and fell back asleep.

Well, we have Swimming, Fishing, Canoeing, and Outdoor Nature tomorrow...That should be fun...


	6. Camp Konoha 05

**Chapter Five**

A loud blaring sound in my ear woke me up with a start, sending me tumbling off of my bed with a shout. "What the hell is going on?" I asked, blankets strewn over me.

"It's morning!" Sakura announced, pulling her shirt on after tossing her pajamas away.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. "It's seven in the morning!" I exclaimed.

Ino yawned and shrugged. "That's the wake up time here at Camp Konoha," she said, brushing her hair.

Tenten nodded and threw a pillow at me. "So wake up and get dressed. We have to go to morning ceremony before breakfast."

"Morning ceremony?" I asked, standing up and stripping my pajamas off. "What's that?"

"Yeah," Hinata said with a nod. "You'll see when we get there."

I sighed and pulled on a loose pair of shorts and a tank top, suppressing a yawn and running a hand through my hair. "When do we get to shower?"

"Oh, we're only allowed to shower on the weekend," Tenten said with a shrug.

My jaw dropped. "But we're here for two weeks! We're only allowed to shower on the weekend?"

Ino frowned. "Yeah, it's gross, I know. But we go swimming every other day... Just keep your hair tied or braided so it won't get too greasy or messy..."

I grimaced. Only showering on the weekends? Nasty.

I took Ino's advice and tied my hair off in two braids. I fixed my bed and headed over to the door.

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked.

"...Bathroom...I need to use it and brush my teeth...why?" I asked, turning to face them.

"Well, we're not supposed to go alone," Sakura said. "Remember yesterday?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but the bathroom is right across from our cabin...it's not like a bear is gonna charge out of nowhere and kidnap me..." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Okayyyy..." Ino said, twirling her hair around her finger. "Don't say we didn't warn you..."

I raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off and walked out of the cabin toward the bathroom.

"Lone camper!" Tobi yelled. "Senpai! Tobi found a lone camper!"

"Huh?" I asked, looking at the man clad in a blinding orange shirt.

"You need a partner!" Deidara yelled, throwing something white at my feet. I looked at it, and saw it was a spider.

"I'm not afraid of spiders," I said, walking away from it.

_BOOM!_

"What the hell?" I shrieked. The thing exploded!

"That's my explosive clay un!" Deidara said from atop the roof. I stared up at him. He had two whole handfuls more of those explosive clay things.

"Aughh!" I shrieked, running around like a mad woman in an attempt to avoid the explosives while Tobi jumped up and down, applauding and cheering.

"Yay Senpai!" he cheered.

Other campers were waking up and peering out of their cabins to see what was going on. When they saw a girl running around, screaming, with clouds of dirt all around, they started laughing and cheering too.

"This is crazy!" I yelled, running into the safety of my cabin where the girls were giggling and snickering.

"We warned you!" Tenten said, grinning like a fool.

"You never told me that they had explosives!" I exclaimed, gasping for breath.

Hinata shrugged. "Come on Andi," she said. "Let's go to the bathroom."

"You want me to go back into that minefield?" I asked her, incredulous.

She nodded. "You're safe if you have a partner walking with you," she said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me out of the cabin. I ducked and looked around nervously, watching out for Tobi and Deidara and the explosives.

"You'll be fine," Hinata said, releasing her hold on my wrist now that I was willing to walk by myself.

"Aw Andi that was _awesome_!" Naruto whooped as he walked toward the bathroom as well, Sasuke being his bathroom buddy. "You were running around and dodging bombs like a ninja all you were all like 'aughhh!' and Tobi was laughing his butt off..."

I stared at his laughing form. He finally calmed down and looked at me again, grinning. "That was the most exciting morning I've had all summer!"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm glad that you found me entertaining..." I muttered, giving him a half grin.

He laughed and went into the boys' room while Hinata and I entered the girls' room.

Everyone in the bathroom decided to either cheer for or laugh at me for my explosive display this morning, and it took forever to get away from them long enough to get into a stall.

Hinata and I left the bathroom and made our way back to the cabin just as Kurenai arrived back from the counselors' meeting that she went to.

She led us all to the blacktop where all the other campers were assembled.

"Gooooood mooooooorniiiiiiiing camperrrrrrrrrs!" Tsunade said, speaking through a megaphone.

"Gooooood mooooooorniiiiiiiing counselorrrrrrs!" everyone else yelled back. I just stared, not knowing that we were supposed to say that.

Tsunade grinned and put the megaphone down, hand on her hips. "Well, I think now is a good time to go over the rules. As Deidara and Tobi displayed to one of the campers this morning," she said, pointing at me. "No going anywhere without a buddy!"

Everyone stared at me, smirking, grinning, or snickering, and I wished that I could just disappear.

"No leaving the cabin after ten pm, unless you have to use the bathroom. No disrespecting the counselors, and absolutely NO purpling!" Tsunade yelled.

...Purpling?

"Diiiiismissed!" she announced, turning and walking away.

"What the hell is purpling?" I asked as me and the rest of my cabin followed Kurenai to the mess hall for breakfast.

"It goes like this," Kiba said, slinging an arm over my shoulder. "For bathrooms and stuff, guys are blue, right?"

I shrugged. "I guess so."

He nodded. "Right, and girls are always pink or red..."

"...And?" I asked, not sure where he was going with this.

He rolled his eyes and knocked on my head. "Think, Andi. Red or pink mixed with blue is purple! So purpling means flirting and making out and stuff."

"Oh...no flirting...gotcha," I said, nodding.

Kiba grinned and pulled his arm back, getting back in line with the rest of his cabin.

Breakfast was good. Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon and orange juice. After breakfast, Cabins A, B and C headed back to our cabins.

"Alright!" Kurenai said, clapping her hands together. "Swimsuits on!"

I frowned, since I never really liked people seeing me barely clothed, me being self-conscious and all. But I pulled on a one-piece, and pulled on shorts and a tank top.

I've never had a bathing suit before. Mom and I had to go out to the store to get one just for camp, since it was on the list of required things to bring. I didn't like that it was so tight and made my curves stand out. I barely even had curves, but they still stood out!

We filed out of the cabin, me and Hinata being the only girls in one-piece. Ino and Sakura had on bikinis while Tenten wore a tankini. How could they stand to expose themselves like that? Sure they had shorts and tank tops on over it, but they'd soon discard those at the pool...

Most of the guys were grinning in excitement, since they had been dying to go swimming since yesterday. They were all acting like idiots, whacking each other's asses with their towels and laughing.

Well, most of them were. Shino, Gaara, Neji and Sasuke were just standing there, watching the others.

We arrived at the pool and my jaw dropped. Kisame, the blue shark-man, was _built_. It looked like he had a pair of legs coming out of his shoulders! He must swim all the time to have arm and back muscles like that.

Tenten laughed. "Yeah, that's how everyone reacts when they first see him..."

"Are all shark-men that built?" I asked, amazed.

Tenten just laughed again. "I don't know. He's the only shark-man I've ever met."

"Okay kiddos!" Kisame yells. "I'm Kisame, but you'll call me Kisame-san, got it?"

We nod, and some even said "Hai, Kisame-san!"

I frown, wishing I knew Japanese.

"To the pool!" Kisame exclaimed running over and cannonballing in, splashing everybody within range. I'm one of the fortunate ones, since I'm as far as possible from the pool.

There's a tall gray fence surrounding the cement ground surrounding the pool, and I am leaning against the fence.

"Come on in already!" Lee said, waving. I looked away as he dove in, not wanting to see him in his green speedo. The sight was quite sickening.

"Yeah, come in," Sakura said, sitting on the steps in the pool beside Ino, both of them trying to get Sasuke to stare at their partially exposed chests.

I slowly make my way to the pool, afraid. I hesitantly dipped a toe into the pool.

"Gah! It's freezing!" I yelped, jumping back. "There is no way I'm going in there!"

"Um...Andi?" Naruto said, already waist deep in the freezing cold water. "You'd better get in here. Or else..."

"Or else...what?" I asked, not sure what he was getting at.

"In ya go Squirt!" Kisame yelled, coming up behind me, dripping wet, scooping me up, and hurling me into the pool.

I screamed and got a mouthful of pool water in result. "Help! Help! I'm gonna die!" I yelled, latching on to the person closest to me.

"Get off of me!" he yelled while I accidentally forced him under water. He surfaced and swam to the pool's edge, me still latched around his neck.

"Are you out of your mind Andi?" he asked me.

"Sorry Kankuro," I said. Then I turned to Kisame. "Are you insane? Are you trying to kill me? I can't freaking swim!" I exclaimed, glaring and holding onto the pool's edge for dear life.

Kisame stared at me. "You can't swim? You live in Erie! By a lake!"

"Dad didn't want us swimming! So I never learned!" I exclaimed.

"Why didn't you say so?" Kisame asked.

"I couldn't say so! You just scooped me up and chucked me in!" I said, glaring.

Kisame started at me for a bit before laughing nervously and scratching the back of his neck. "Uh...sorry about that Squirt. Well, let's start."

"Start what?" I asked.

"Your swimming lessons of course!" he exclaimed, cannonballing into the water with a whoop.

And so, for the rest of the hour, Kisame taught me how to swim, much to my embarrassment. But I'm glad I learned. Swimming is really fun!

"Um...Andi?" Naruto asked, walking beside me as we made our way to the pond for canoeing with Deidara.

"What's up Naruto?" I asked him.

"Uh...why didn't your dad let you learn how to swim?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Oh, well, when he was a kid, he went to a lake with a bunch of his friends and one of their parents. One of the kids...drowned. So he never set foot in water again, and refused to let us swim as well," I said.

Naruto stared. "Wow. Poor kid..."

I just shrugged.

"Hey Squirt. Did you like your wake up call un?" Deidara asked, approaching me.

I glared and crossed my arms. "No, I didn't. Un," I said, not sure what 'un' meant, but whatever. "And stop calling me Squirt!"

Deidara just laughed and walked over to talk with our counselors.

"Why do all the counselors call me Squirt?" I asked no one in particular.

"Because you're a newbie," Kankuro said, smirking. "And you're so short!"

"I'm not _that _short!" I protested.

"Sure you aren't..." Kiba laughed, putting his hand on top of his head and moving it over mine, showing how much taller he was.

I looked around at everyone else and scowled. I really was the shortest!

"Come on over here un!" Deidara yelled, waving us over.

When we reached him, he was sitting on one of the canoes, packet of paper in hand. "I'm Deidara Senpai!" he said, waving with one hand while reading the packet.

"Okay now...canoes hold three people...don't shake around or you'll tip...be careful...blah blah blah...this is boring un!" he exclaimed, tossing the packet of paper away.

"Okay!" he exclaimed, standing up. "Get in your usual groups of three and pick a canoe un!"

I just stood there as everyone else got into their 'usual groups'. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. Neji, Tenten, and Lee. Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. Leaving...

"Guess you're with us Squirt!" Kankuro said, smirking. "Since Temari is a counselor-in-training now..."

I rolled my eyes at the name, but joined him and Gaara at one of the canoes.

"Okay, here are your oars," Deidara said, walking down the line between the canoes and handing them out. "No whacking each other with them un!" he exclaimed as Naruto and Kiba initiated a sword fight with the oars.

The grumbled but did as he said.

"Um...yeah...just go out there and canoe around un," Deidara said, waving his hand dismissively. "Don't tip or anything."

"Sorry," Kiba said for about the tenth time.

The three of us just sneezed in response.

Kiba thought it would _hilarious _to row his canoe over to mine, Kankuro's and Gaara's and then _pretend _to tip us, despite the protests from Shino and Hinata.

But he accidentally _did _tip us, and Kankuro got bitten by the snapping turtle, and I almost drowned Gaara while I was clinging to him for dear life, momentarily forgetting that I could in fact swim now.

"Sleep with one eye open tonight," Gaara muttered threateningly to Kiba.

Kiba gulped and picked at his sandwich nervously.

"Welcome to Fishing," Sasori said boredly, his red-brown eyes gazing at us emotionlessly. "I'm Sasori no Danna. If you don't know how to fish, then you're an idiot."

I chuckled at his blatant honesty. We were all at the other side of the pond, standing on a big, wooden dock, fishing poles and buckets of bait off to the side.

"But for all you idiots out there," he continued. "You take some bait, put it on the hook, and throw it into the water. Wait for a tug, then reel it in."

We nodded in understanding.

"Well, get to it," he said, picking up a sketchpad and making skillful strokes across it.

"Um...Sasori no Danna?" Ino said. "The bait was replaced by clay..."

Sasori glanced in the bucket, confirmed what Ino said to be true, and looked across the pond, glaring at the blond who was relaxing in the canoe, not having a class right now.

Sasori walked off the dock, into the wooden shack beside the pond. He came back with buckets of what looked like chum and bait in his hands.

"Alright then..." Sasori said, smirking and showing emotion for once. "New plan. Twenty five points to the cabin that hits Deidara with this stuff first," he said, gesturing to the buckets full of nasty stuff. "Five points each time he gets hit after that. Now begin."

"Awesome!" Naruto exclaimed, grabbing a handful of slimy chum and hurling it in the direction of the snoozing Deidara's canoe.

It narrowly missed his lovely blond hair and splattered on the canoe, waking Deidara up. "What's going on un?" he asked, sitting up and looking around frantically.

His face paled at the sight of sixteen teenage boys and girl holding handfuls of fish bait and chum, poised to throw it at him.

He yelped and scrambled around for his oar, dying to get out of there.

"Now!" Sasori exclaimed. We all grinned and hurled handful after handful of the smelly substance at the frantic, panicking Deidara.

Sasori, standing on the edge of the dock with a fishing pole in the water, yelled to Deidara. "That's what you get for leaving your miserable excuse for art in _my _fishing buckets!"

There was a tug on Sasori's line and he quickly reeled it in, revealing a big, flopping silver fish. Sasori smirked and started swinging his fishing line around, fish still at the end of it.

"I got him!" Tenten yelped triumphantly.

"Alright Tenten!" we girls cheered, patting her on the back with our chum-free hands.

"Twenty five points to Cabin C!" Sasori said, still swinging the fish around, attempting to hit Deidara with it. "Don't stop throwing! Remember, five points each time he gets hit now!"

By the end of the hour, Deidara had gotten fish-slapped and struck by chum and bait numerous times.

I even came up with the idea of taking some of his explosive clay and dropping it in a chum buck and throwing the bucket over Deidara head, so that when it exploded, the chum would rain down on him. Sasori gave my cabin fifteen more points for that!

Then, when Deidara managed to land his canoe, we all ran over and tackled him into the pond while Sasori shoved the fish he was slapping him with into Deidara's mouth.

Zetsu stared at us in disgust when we arrived at outdoor nature, reeking of fish and chum and pond water.

Zetsu sighed. "Don't tell us...Deidara versus Sasori war?"

We nodded, sending bits of pond plants that stuck to our hair around. But...us?

Zetsu sighed. "Every year, even when they were just campers, those two always go at it..."

"But it's hilarious!" he said, this time in a deeper voice, scaring me.

"Oh, he has split personalities," Sakura whispered to me.

...Weird.

"Anyway we are Zetsu-san, welcome to Outdoor Nature," he said in his regular voice. "This year, we'll teach you about poisonous and carnivorous plants!" he exclaimed in his deeper voice.

I'm a bit weirded out, but I shrug it off. After all, we have a pyromaniac, gender-confused blond and a shark man...why not a guy with split personalities?

Outdoor Nature was fun...for the most part. It was great up until Naruto thought it would be funny to poke Zetsu's carnivorous plant with a garden weasel.

Let's just say that it was _not _a pretty sight.

After Outdoor Nature, we just fooled around on the blacktop playing basketball (which I suck miserably at) until it was time for dinner.

After dinner, we played flashlight tag, since it gets dark here quickly. Then, shortly before ten, we all retreated to our cabins for some much-deserved rest.


	7. Camp Konoha 06

**Chapter Six**

The next morning started off the same, except this time I waited for a bathroom buddy so I wouldn't get explosive clay pelted at me...

"Good morning campers!" a white haired man with a giant grin on his face exclaimed.

"Good morning counselors!" we all yelled back, myself included this time.

"How was your first full day of camp yesterday?" he asked.

"Awesome!" "Fun!" "Nasty, un..."

Most were positive responses, but Deidara Senpai wasn't too happy with the occurrences of the previous day. Well, if you were tea-bagged by a fish, I don't think you'd enjoy it very much either...

"Who is that guy?" I asked Hinata.

"Oh, that's Jiraiya-Sama," Hinata said quietly.

"Be careful with him though," Sakura said. "He's a major perv. He's the one that wrote the books that Kakashi-Sensei reads..."

"Yeah, the Ero-Sennin peeks on girls in the pool too," Naruto said casually as he folded his hands behind his head.

"Ero...Sennin...?" I asked. Why does everyone know Japanese but me?

"Eh, it roughly translates to Pervy Sage," Naruto said, smirking. "He hates it when I call him that!"

"Gee, I wonder why..." I muttered sarcastically. "Is he really that bad?"

They just nodded wordlessly.

"And now the counselors will do a little morning show for you guys!" Jiraiya announced.

The cabin counselors either grinned or grumbled as they marched to the front of the crowd, facing us.

"Morning show? What kind of morning show?" I asked.

Kiba laughed. "The counselors sing a little camp sang, complete with an interpretive dance..."

I snickered and looked at the counselors. One man had a black bowl-cut, giant bushy eyebrows, a big, toothy smile...and a green spandex body suit. I stared at him for a bit before looking at Lee and then back at the man.

"That's Gai-Sensei," Tenten said. "He's a bit of an odd one..."

"That is not true!" Lee exclaimed. "Gai-Sensei is the greatest, most youthful camp counselor that I know!"

The nine cabin counselors, six men and three women, stood there kind of awkwardly until Gai nudged a man in black with tiny black glasses. "Take it away, Ebisu!" Gai said loudly, flashing a smile and a thumbs-up.

Ebisu sighed and took a breath. "Knock knock,"

"Who's there," the rest of the counselors replied, Gai more enthusiastically than the others.

"Ether."

"Ether who?"

"Ether bunny!"

"Yeah, yeah, woo hoo," the counselors said, slowly getting more into it and even dancing a bit.

Then they all joined together and sang, "Stay on the sunny side, always on the sunny side, stay on the sunny side of life, yee haw! You'll feel no pain, as we drive you insane, so stay on the sunny side of life!"

Then Gai did a verse, "Knock knock!"

"Who's there?" everyone responded, myself included after getting a nudge in the ribs, compliments of Kankuro and Naruto.

"Nutter!"

"Nutter who?"

"Nutter Ether bunny!"

And then we all sang the chorus again. Except for Sasuke, Neji, and Gaara. They just refused to sing. So Naruto, being the smart guy he is, said, "Ero-Sennin! Sasuke said he wants to lead the next verse!"

Sasuke stiffened. The counselors grinned and pulled Sasuke to the front of the crowd. "Take it away, young Uchiha!" Gai exclaimed, handing him the megaphone.

Itachi and Naruto were smirking at Sasuke, happy about his suffering. Sasuke glared and took a breath before bringing the megaphone to his face.

"Knock knock."

"Who's there?" we all exclaimed, the girls louder than the others.

"Stella."

"Stella who?"

"Stella Nutter Ether bunny," he muttered, walking back into the crowd. As we sang the chorus, Sasuke shoved the megaphone into Naruto's hands and shoved him to the front of the crowd.

"Knock knock!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Who's there?"

"Car go!"

"Car go who?"

"Car go beep beep and run over all the Ether Bunnies!"

At this point, everyone either cheered or mock cried, Sasuke being one of the cheerers and Naruto one of the fake criers.

"Don't worry!" Jiraiya exclaimed, grabbing the megaphone from Naruto. "They'll be more Ether bunnies next year!"

Then the counselors cheered and we did the refrain again.

"Alright," Jiraiya said, clapping and grinning. "That was wonderful! And thank you, Sasuke and Naruto, for volunteering to do verses!"

"Hn," Sasuke muttered, glaring half-heartedly at Naruto. Naruto just grinned childishly and scratched the back of his head.

"Alright, go to breakfast!" Jiraiya said, waving us off.

As we made our way to the mess hall, I turned to Shino. "Do we really do that every morning?"

He nodded. "Yes. Though the songs vary, don't worry."

"Oh, I wasn't," I said, eyebrows raised. "It's just a bit...disturbing...to see Gai-Sensei wriggling around and shaking his butt in a tight, green, spandex body suit..."

"Where to first Kurenai-Sensei?" Sakura asked after breakfast.

Kurenai shrugged. "It's a lazy day..."

The others got excited while I was just confused. "Lazy day?"

"We only have two classes, so we get to do virtually whatever we want until then!" Ino said, grinning.

Asuma nodded. "Yeah, and both our classes are in the afternoon, so we have the whole morning free. So...what do you kids want to do?"

"Can we go on a hike?" Naruto asked.

Shika groaned. "No way. That's too troublesome..."

"How about Amoeba Tag?" Sakura suggested, eyeing Sasuke.

Tenten snorted. "You just want to hold hands with Sasuke..."

Sakura blushed and Sasuke slid down a little further away.

"How about plain old soccer?" Sasuke suggested.

"Sasuke that's brilliant!" Ino and Sakura exclaimed simultaneously.

Kakashi looked around. "Is anyone opposed to soccer?" he asked.

Shika started to raise his hand, but it was forced down by Ino, who said, "Nope! We'll all play!"

Apparently playing soccer with a bunch of Konoha, Oto, and Suna High students is _not _as easy as playing against regular kids. I was the best on my team, but here I'm only average.

Sakura, Ino, and Hinata can't play for the life of them, but at least they tried. Gaara would just glare at the ball whenever it came his way. But man that guy can kick! If a ball got too close, he'd send it flying over the net and into the forest.

Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba, Lee, and Kankuro are freaking soccer _ninjas_! I didn't stand a chance against them. Luckily for me, only Naruto, Kiba, and Kankuro were on my team, so I only had to worry about Lee and Sasuke.

Choji is an awesome goalie, which was unexpected because he doesn't really like sports. But the only people capable of scoring on him were Sasuke and Lee.

I did manage to earn the respect of the better players by scoring on Tenten though. I had the ball and Lee came charging toward me at a ridiculously face speed. So I kicked the ball at the unsuspecting Shika, and it bounced off of his head into the goal.

So, I really only assisted it, but they still thought it was awesome. Thank you, geometry, for making me learn about angles...

We played soccer _all _morning and didn't stop until noon. Most of us were utterly exhausted, but not the soccer ninjas. Oh no, those guys were just bursting with energy. Gaara wasn't really tired either, since all he did was kick the ball really hard numerous times.

"Man I'm _starving_!" Choji exclaimed, piling the sandwiches on to his plate.

"You're always starving," Shika said with a small grin.

Choji laughed and nodded, grabbing a handful or two of potato chips and adding them to his heaping pile of food. He had more food than Ino and Sakura combined!

But then, they didn't have much food because they're dieting or whatever.

"Welcome to Arts and Crafts," Konan said, smiling warmly at us.

"Hey, hey!" Naruto exclaimed. "Do we get to make ooblek like last year?"

Konan's smile faltered. "Naruto, last time we made ooblek, it took us a whole hour and a half to scrape it off of the walls and out of everyone's hair..." she said calmly with a hint of anger flashing in her amber eyes.

Naruto chuckled nervously before taking a step back.

"Anyway, a lot of my art supplies were stolen by Sasori and Deidara for their never ending war..." Konan said, rolling her eyes. "So we're going to make nature pets."

"Are you crazy? Nature pets?" just about everyone exclaimed. "We're fifteen and sixteen years old!"

Konan glared and pulled out a paper crane. Everyone fell silent, and a few started to tremble. "It would be a shame if some of you accidentally got paper cuts while in Arts and Crafts..."

I stiffened. Papercuts _hurt _like you wouldn't believe.

Kankuro cleared his throat. "I, I love...nature pets..." he said nervously.

Slowly everyone started to agree, myself included. Papercuts are not something you joke about...

"My rock is _wayy _cooler than yours, Sasuke," Naruto said, shoving his red rock in Sasuke's face.

"It looks like a frog," Sasuke said, raising an eyebrow. "Mine is obviously superior to yours." His was a short, thick stick painted purple.

"Yours is a snake!" Naruto exclaimed. "Frogs are definitely better than snakes!"

"Oh, shut up Naruto," Sakura muttered, adding another white stripe to her white pinecone that resembled a slug. "Snakes eat frogs."

Naruto fell silent, trying to think of a comeback.

"Face it dobe," Sasuke said, tapping Naruto on the head with his wooden snake. "I win."

"Rocks are better than sticks, teme!" Naruto exclaimed, whacking Sasuke's arm with his heavy rock, starting a battle involving throwing pebbles and twigs between the two of them.

"What a little kid," Kiba laughed.

"What's yours supposed to be?" I asked him, tilting my head to the side and examining his bundle of sticks and moss.

"It's a dog, duh," he stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, I see it," I said. "If I spin around really fast and get disoriented and then stand on my head, _then _I'll see that it's a dog!"

"Hey!" Kiba exclaimed, chucking a glue-covered stick at me. "It's better than your sorry excuse for a pet rock!"

"Oh it is _on _dog-boy," I said, grabbing a handful of moss and hurling it at him. Kiba just laughed and ducked and grabbed another gluey stick and threw it at me.

"Guys, don't make a mess. Konan-san will get mad..." Hinata said, placing her flower necklace on the pinecone she was using as her pet. Kiba and I momentarily paused our war to look at it.

"Wow, Hinata! That's really good!" I said, staring at the intricately designed necklace.

Hinata blushed at the compliment. "Thanks. You should see what Shino made..."

Kiba and I turned around and saw Shino with a large stick model of some kind of beetle.

"Hey, Shino. What kind of bug is that?" I asked.

"It's the Bikochu Beetle," he said, adding a final detail. "It's a very rare beetle."

"Cool," I said, nodding at it.

Then something small and hard hit the back of my neck. I whipped around to see Kankuro whistling conspicuously and looking at the sky.

"Hey! Kankuro! Don't throw nuts at me!" I exclaimed.

"I don't have nuts!" he lied.

"Haha! You _wouldn't _have nuts, would you Kankuro?" Naruto asked, still fighting with Sasuke.

"Hey! That's not what I meant!" he protested.

"It's too late Kankuro," Tenten laughed, adding eyes to her green pet rock. "The damage has been done."

Kankuro grumbled a bit and continued working on his wooden project.

"Shikamaru, why haven't you made anything yet?" Konan asked as she walked down the table, inspecting our nature pets.

"I did," he said, holding up a dandelion. "It's a cloud."

Ino groaned and Choji snickered.

Konan sighed. "If I could fail you, Shikamaru, I would..." she said, shaking her head and moving on.

"Kankuro, this is a very nice catapult, but it's not a pet," Konan said.

"Of course it's not a pet," Kankuro said. "I just made it after I finished with this," he said, holding up a small, detailed, wooden puppet.

My jaw dropped. That was an awesome puppet!

"Kankuro is the best at woodshop," Gaara muttered to me.

I turned to face him, surprised that he had spoken. "I can see that! He is really good! What did you make?"

He held up a small gourd (where he found it, I don't know) that was painted brown with black E-shaped symbols on it. There were also googly eyes on it, since it had to be a pet. I grinned. "That's cool."

He just shrugged.

"Kiba...what _is _that?" Konan asked, staring at his bundle of moss.

"It's a dog! Jeez! You people just don't appreciate art!" Kiba exclaimed, huffing and crossing his arms over his chest.

"I think it's lovely," I said in mock-sincerity.

Kiba just made a face and threw another stick at me.

"Welcome to Target and Gaming," Itachi said. "I am Itachi-san, but you already knew that."

He stared at us in silence, and I started fidgeting. It felt like he was gazing into my soul or something, and his eyes seemed to flash red.

He smiled slightly. "This, Andrea, is the special class we don't tell the parents about," he said, looking directly at me.

I swallowed. "Why not?"

"Because in this class, I teach you the skills...of a ninja," he said.

I stared, slack-jawed and eyes wide. I looked around at my friends, searching for a smirk, a grin, a twinkle in the eye...anything to say that this was a joke. Finding none, I turned my gaze back to Itachi.

Something was thrown at me, and I quickly stepped to the side. Itachi nodded. "Good, you have a good reaction time..." he said, stepping forward and circling me. "You'll be able to learn. Sasuke...partner up with Andrea and help her."

Sasuke nodded and beckoned me over to him while everyone else partnered up.

Over the course of an hour, I learned how to somewhat-accurately throw a kunai and a shuriken, and I learned some hand-to-hand combat. The combat was easier for me, since I took Tae Kwon Do when I was a lot younger, and the lessons stuck with me.

"Hey, Sasuke?" I said, ducking a kick and catching the fist thrown at me. "Where do the cabin counselors go when we're here?"

Sasuke shrugged and jumped back. "They need to plan for future activities, help some of the Special Activities Counselors, and prepare for the Big Event."

"What's the Big Event?" I asked, blocking a punch by crossing my arms in front of my face.

Sasuke chuckled. "You'll see when it comes, Andi," he said, kicking my exposed stomach and knocking me down. He bent over and offered me a hand, helping me up before resuming our sparring.

After our senseis came to pick us up, we stumbled down to the Mess Hall, some more sore than others.

I couldn't believe that this was actually like a ninja training camp! It's so cool!

After dinner, we all just laid out on the grass, too tired to play a game.

When ten o'clock came around, we all went into our cabins and got ready for bed. I was so tired that I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow.


	8. Camp Konoha 07

**Chapter Seven**

I heard movement around the cabin and heard the girls whispering and getting ready. Not me. Nope. I am sleeping until the last possible moment.

"It's Wednesday!" Sakura said, shaking my shoulder.

I grumbled something incoherent and swatted her away, wanting more sleep.

"Andi! It's Wednesday!" Tenten said, whacking me with a pillow.

I sat up with a start. "Okay, okay! I'm up!" I exclaimed, looking around the cabin. My gaze landed on the clock. "Why am I awake at six in the morning?"

"Because it's Wednesday!" Ino exclaimed excitedly.

I glared. "I _know_ that it's Wednesday! That's all you guys have told me today! What is so special about Wednesdays?"

Hinata smiled. "You'll see later, Andi…" she said quietly.

I groaned and lay back down, grabbing the pillow Tenten whacked me with and covering my face with it.

"Wake up!" Tenten said, tugging on the pillow, trying to get it back from me.

But she couldn't. I had a firm grip on it, and I wanted to block out the lights and sounds, so I wasn't going to give up any time soon.

When I woke up for real, it was seven o'clock, and all the girls in my cabin were fidgety, Kurenai-Sensei included.

I let out a yawn and stretched before scratching the back of my head. "Morning guys. What's up?"

"About time you woke up!" Sakura exclaimed, grabbing a pillow and whacking me with it. "We've been waiting for an hour!"

"Stop hitting me with pillows!" I exclaimed, shielding myself from her. "And why were you waiting? Morning Ceremony isn't until seven thirty!"

"Well, it's Wednesday…" Hinata said. "So…"

"I freaking _know _that it's Wednesday! What is the big freaking deal?" I demanded.

"Wednesday is Special Activities Day!" Sakura announced. "Pein organizes a bunch of creative games that we all play together! Winners get a hundred points to their cabin per game!"

I let out a low whistle. "Wow. That's a lot of points…"I nodded slowly. "Well! I'm gonna get dressed," I said, rolling out of bed and wandering over to my wooden chest. I reached in and pulled out some loose athletic shorts and a tank top and started to strip out of my pajamas.

"You're gonna want to wear a bathing suit," Ino said, making me shriek.

I did not like people watching me get dressed. It is awkward and an invasion of privacy. Yeah, we're all girls. But _still_!

"Why would I wear a bathing suit?" I asked her. "Are we going swimming?"

"Not necessarily. We never know what Pein has in store for us," Sakura said. "So it's best to just be prepared."

I sighed and nodded in acknowledgement at her before pulling my bathing suit out. I walked to the back of the cabin and hid behind the giant chest to use as a shield so people couldn't watch me. Once the bathing suit was on, I went back to my bed and pulled on my shorts and tank top.

I glanced at myself in the mirror. Eh...my braids are kinda messy, but they'll last for one more day. I'm too lazy to try and fix them.

"Who wants to be my bathroom buddy?" I asked.

"Well, we all already went, but I'll go with you," Tenten said, slipping into her flip flops and walking out the door with me.

Within five seconds of stepping outside the cabin, Tenten and I were surrounded by campers of all ages, all saying virtually the same thing:

"It's Wednesday!" "It is Wednesday!" "Wednesday is finally here!" "Thank god it's Wednesday!" "Wed-nes-day is here!"

When we finally managed to sneak away from the mob, I turned to Tenten. "I swear to god; the next person that tells me it's Wednesday is getting punched!"

Tenten chuckled. "It's a big deal Andi," she said.

"Hey guys! It's Wednesday!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he and Sasuke made their way to the bathroom as well.

"Gahh!" I exclaimed, swinging my fist into his upper arm.

"Ow!" he yelped, rubbing his arm. "What was that for Andi?"

"_Everyone_ has told me that it's Wednesday. I do _not _need to hear it again," I said, shaking my hand. Punching Naruto's arm hurt more than I thought it would, because he's so damned muscular.

"Hey...Andi..." Sasuke said, looking at me.

"What?"

"...It's Wednesday!" he said, smirking.

"SASUKE!" I screamed, raising my fists and chasing him around the campground.

"Good morning campers," Pein said calmly.

"Good morning counselors," we replied, though more enthusiastically than Pein.

"Well...it's Wednesday," he stated.

I clenched my fists and ground my teeth together, growling slightly. My friends snickered, noting my behavior and getting a good laugh from it.

"And since it's Wednesday, we have Special Activities Day," he said. He pulled out a piece of paper. "First on the agenda is Extreme Capture the Flag. Then we'll have a soccer game; campers versus campers and then campers versus counselors. Then we'll break for lunch. After that is the Water Balloon Fight. And then we'll play various, little games and then have a giant bonfire. Any questions?"

...Extreme Capture the Flag? Playing _anything _with ninjas is extreme. I'm probably going to die or get hurt or something...

Pein looked around for raised hands. Finding none, he nodded and stuck the paper in his pocket. "Good! Now, off to breakfast. Be at the Field at 0830 hours. Dismissed!"

He saluted us and walked away, piercings glinting in the sunlight. I turned to Kiba and said, "Uh...what is _Extreme_ Capture the Flag?"

He grinned. "Oh, it's just plain old capture the flag. With fewer rules and more weapons!" he said, smirking.

I nodded slowly. Then I froze in mid-nod. "...Weapons? You don't use weapons in Capture the Flag!" I exclaimed.

"Listen Andi," Kiba said, slinging an arm around my shoulders and bending down to my level. "At Camp Konoha, we break normal game rules. We use our ninja skills in almost every game we play. Get used to it...Squirt."

"Stop calling me Squirt," I sighed, worming out of his grasp and catching up with Tenten. "I am _not _that short!"

"Riiiiight," Kankuro said sarcastically, resting his arm comfortably on my head.

"Get off," I said, pushing his arm away. "I'm not your arm rest."

"Oh but you're the perfect height!" he said. "Gaara used to be, but then he grew. So...I'll just have to use you as an arm rest."

"Oh aren't you soo funny..." I muttered sarcastically.

He just grinned at me, and I grinned back.

"Alright, now remember Andi. Anything goes. If anyone punches you, you punch them right back, okay?" Sakura asked me enthusiastically.

"Right," I said with a nod. "...What are the rules?"

"Get a flag from each of the teams. Every team has four flags of the same color. Once we have four different flags, ours included, we win! The only way to get 'out' is to lose a battle. The 'tag' rule doesn't apply," Sakura said. "We'll be against the fourteen and thirteen year olds, the eleven and twelve year olds, and the non-Cabin Counselors."

"Aren't we at an advantage since we're older than most of the campers?" I asked.

Sakura shook her head and finished applying her face paint. "Nope. There are the most eleven and twelve year olds, and a lot of thirteen and fourteen year olds. We have the smallest group, aside from the Counselors. But they're all _really _good..."

"Oh, okay," I said. My eyes widened and I ducked out of the way as Ino brought a paintbrush to my face. "Hey! What's the big idea?"

"Andi! It's face paint! You need some!" Ino said, grabbing my shoulder and painting black lines beneath my eyes. It make us look more intimidating.

Naruto nodded, adding more red streaks to his face, making him look rather foxlike. Sasuke had black flames on his face, and Sakura had some Japanese characters on her forehead. I have no idea what they said though.

"...Kankuro?" I asked, looking at him. "Why do you have purple makeup on? That, along with your hat, makes you look like a cat or something..."

It was true. He had on a black hat with little cat ears on top. And he's purple makeup looked like whiskers or something.

He rolled his eyes and cuffed my upper arm. "It's face paint _Squirt_!"

"Whatever you say _Kitty_," I said, smirking.

He took a step forward, but Temari grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Temari? Where did you come from?" I asked. I hadn't seen her at all yesterday or the day before.

She rolled her eyes. "I've been working my ass off these past two days, learning rules and procedures and whatnot, and helping plan for the Big Event," she said. "_Buuut_, since I'm such a good worker, Tsunade-sama said I could join your team!"

"Yeah!" Choji exclaimed. "We'll win for sure now!"

"Alright, alright," Temari said, smirking. "Now time to choose your weapons everybody. Andi, have you ever used weapons before?"

"Um...do plastic lightsabers count? Oh, and I've used nunchuks, long-bos, and kamas before," I said, silently thanking my mom for having me take Tae Kwon Do when I was little.

Temari nodded in approval. "Hm...lightsabers and long-bos, huh? Well...use this katana!" she said, thrusting a plastic sword in my direction. "It's light weight, but long and slender."

I rotated the plastic weapon in my hand, getting a feel for it. I nodded at her in thanks.

"Hey, Lee, pass me that shuriken, would ya?" Tenten asked.

I turned around and stared at Tenten. She was shoving just about every type of weapon into her bag and holding nunchuks with her teeth.

"Um...do you really need that many weapons?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm pretty bad with hand to hand combat. But I'm _awesome_ with weapons!"

Neji nodded. "It's true," he stated.

"Ready! Set! GO!" Pein yelled into his megaphone, beginning the game of Extreme Capture the Flag. Kankuro, Temari, Gaara, and I are going after the Counselors' green flag. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Kiba are going after the thirteen and fourteen year olds' blue flag. Neji, Tenten, Lee, and Shino are going after the eleven and twelve year olds' yellow flag. Ino, Shika, Choji, and Hinata are protecting our red flags.

"Remember, stick with the plan!" Shikamaru yelled after us. He, despite his laziness, is a tactical genius who came up with our strategy. As long as we stuck to the plan, there was no way we'd lose!

Temari and I ran at Deidara and Tobi, the guards of their green flags. Deidara reached into his pouch and pulled out a handful of clay and began molding it. He threw the clay bird at us, but Temari blew it away with her giant fan.

She ran ahead and dropped onto her hands and knees, ducking her head. I ran and placed a foot on her back, launching myself into the air and over Deidara and Tobi. I landed sloppily and fell to my side. Tobi ran toward me, stick in hand.

He brought it down swiftly, but was blocked by Kankuro's wooden weapon, giving me a chance to slip away and join Gaara as we snuck toward the flags hiding place...wherever that was.

We glanced over our shoulders. Temari and Deidara were in a fight, and Kankuro and Tobi were as well. Gaara and I nodded at each other before crawling through the bushes in search of their hiding spot.

You can hide your flags wherever you want. You just need to have a stick with string tied around it on the spot so it isn't _completely_ impossible to find.

After a few minutes of searching, Gaara found the hiding spot beneath the log.

"Should we grab them all so no one else can get one?" I asked Gaara.

He shook his head. "That's against the rules," he said, grabbing one of the flags and sticking it in his pocket. "But that would be a good idea. Now come on," he said, leading the way out of the bushes.

When we crawled out, we say that Temari and Kankuro were still engaged in battle with Tobi and Deidara. Taking advantage of the situation, Gaara and I ran out of the bushes and toward the base.

Deidara noticed. "Hidan! Gaara and Squirt have a flag!" he announced, dropping his guard and letting Temari whack him in the head.

"Oh fuck no!" Hidan yelled, running toward us. I yelped in fear and pushed myself to go faster. Hidan had a triple-bladed scythe, and I really hoped it was just a rubber or plastic one.

I tripped over a rock and fell to the ground, grunting at the impact. Gaara skidded to a stop and started coming toward me. "No! Keep going!" I said, waving my arm and forcing myself to stand.

Gaara nodded and took off running again.

I started to move, but I saw Hidan's shadow, and it showed that he was bringing his scythe down. I whirled around and lifted my katana to protect myself. Mentally thanking the heavens that the scythe was plastic, I pushed, but Hidan was stronger than me.

We fought a bit, but Hidan was more experienced and much stronger than me, so he won and dragged me off to his base's prison. I was tossed in next to a few twelve and thirteen year olds who had also gotten captured.

The only way to be freed from prison is if one of your teammates beat the guardkeeper - Sasori.

Well...I'm doomed.

_Twenty minutes later..._

"Andi! I'm here to save you!" Kankuro said, running over.

_Five minutes later..._

"My hero," I muttered sarcastically as Sasori tossed Kankuro into the prison. "How is our team doing?"

"We just need the flag from the eleven and twelve year olds," he whispered. "Those little kids are like rats...all over the place!"

"Was anyone else captured?" I asked.

Kankuro shook his head. "Shino was almost taken, but he beat the fourteen year old in a fight," he said. Then he grinned. "And get this! _Hinata_ captured _Kisame_! She jabbed all his pressure points and then dragged him into our prison.

"Hinata?" I asked, incredulous.

He nodded. "That girl is good. She knows all the pressure point locations, and can knock just about anyone out using that technique. She calls it gentle fist. It's a Hyuuga thing I guess," he said with a shrug. "Neji does it too."

"GAME OVER!" Lady Tsunade yelled, making everyone freeze in their tracks. "CABINS A, B, AND C ARE THE WINNERS!"

"Awesome!" Kankuro and I exclaimed, punching each other's fist. "One hundred points to our cabins!"

Sasori smirked. "Good job," he said. "You can all leave the prison now," he said, opening the gate and letting us out. We all nodded at him before running off in the direction of our respective bases.

"Hey guys!" I yelled, running over with Kankuro behind me.

"We won!" Tenten cheered, bounding over and hugging me and Kankuro.

"And soccer is next!" Naruto whooped, jumping up and punching the air.

"There is no way we lose at _that_," Sasuke stated confidently. "Though we may tie the Counselors. They're all graduates of Konoha High, after all..."

Everyone just nodded. I did too, but I didn't really know why.

Our team beat the younger kids and, like Sasuke said, tied the Counselors four to four.

_Damn _can Kisame-san kick! And Tobi is crazy fast and Sasori just has awesome foot skills. I could barely keep up!

We get to eat lunch wherever we want, so cabins A, B, and C, and Temari, are on the fishing dock, our feet dangling in the cool water.

"So...what's after this?" I asked, nibbling on my sandwich.

"Water Balloon Fight!" Lee exclaimed excitedly.

"You like water balloon fights?" I asked him, peeling my banana.

"YOSH! It is a very fun and youthful game!" he replied, grinning.

...Yosh? Lucky rich kids...know Japanese and I don't...

"Yeah you eat that banana," Kankuro said, smirking. I reached over to hit him, but Temari beat me to it and shoved him into the pond.

Kankuro fell under water but came up moments later, coughing and spluttering. "Oh _come on_! That was uncalled for!" he exclaimed.

"Perv," Temari said, throwing a stick at his head.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto yelled, spinning a water balloon around really quickly before chucking it at Kiba.

"Nice one Naruto!" Kankuro cheered, hurling a water balloon at Temari.

For the Water Balloon Fight, it's every cabin for themselves. So I'm on an all girls team, avoiding water balloons at all costs, catching a few when I can.

There is no winner for the Water Balloon Fight. It's just meant for fun. And to gang up against the team of Cabin Counselors!

Gaara covered Matsuri with water balloons, smirking slightly as he got his revenge on his stalker-fangirl.

"Take this!" I yelled, pelting water balloon after water balloon at Deidara and Hidan, the guys who pelted me with explosive clay / attacked me with a scythe. Revenge is a dish best served cold and wet!

The Fight lasted much longer than anyone expected...four whole hours! Camp Konoha has a virtually limitless supply of water balloons! I would know! Hinata and I were in charge of filling them up whenever we ran low on ammo...and that was pretty often, considering how quickly we threw the balloons at people.

Now we're gathered around a giant bonfire, the mini games having been canceled due the long Water Balloon Fight.

"Want another mountain pie?" Shino asked, handing me one of the metal things you cook them in.

I nodded at him in thanks and spread tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese all over my bread slices before thrusting it into the fire to cook.

We're eating dinner outdoors, just like lunch! We get to roast hot dogs, mountain pies, popcorn, s'mores, and whatever else we can think of.

It's a perfect evening.

"Scary story time!" Temari announced.

...Perfect evening? Ruined.

"And so, from that day on, anyone who passes by the woods can hear the desperate shrieks of the cursed demon children!" Kankuro finished.

People are smirking, laughing, ignoring the story. Me? I am trembling like a little girl. I told them I don't like scary stories, but this made them want to tell them even more!

"I got one!" Choji said.

"No!" I exclaimed. "No more scary stories! Please?" I begged.

Hinata nodded, clutching her roasting stick even tighter. "They are kind of s-scary..."

"That's the point!" Naruto said. "But...we'll stop now."

I let out a sigh of relief and speared a marshmallow and stuck it into the fire, roasting it to perfection. When I pulled it out, it was a golden brown. Crunchy on the outside, gooey on the inside. Just the way I like it!

I popped it into my mouth, making a contented sound as the marshmallow dissolved in my mouth.

"Oh, you're such a city girl Andi!" Temari said, smirking at me.

I swallowed the marshmallow. "What do you mean?" I asked.

She grabbed my roasting stick and stuck a marshmallow on it. "Let me show you how we Arizona-folk roast marshmallows!" she said, sticking it in the fire.

I leaned forward, intrigued on how she was going to make it. It caught on fire.

"T-Temari! It's burning!" I exclaimed, grabbing her arm and trying to pull the marshmallow out.

"Hold your horses Andi," Temari said. "It's almost done!"

A few seconds later, she pulled the still-flaming marshmallow out of the fire and blew on it, extinguishing the black marshmallow before handing it to me. "Now _that_ is a perfect marshmallow."

I stared slack-jawed at the black stump on the tip of my roasting stick. I think I'll stick with eating marshmallows like a city girl...


	9. Camp Konoha 08

**Chapter Eight**

"Wake up! Wake up!" Ino said, slamming a pillow onto my back.

I groaned and lifted my leg, kicking her away.

"Andi, come on. It's seven oh four," Ino said.

I sat up and yawned. "Then why didn't the loud, blaring thingy go off yet?" I asked, eyeing them suspiciously, convinced that they were tricking me.

"It's broken. Some twelve year olds tried to blast _I'm on a Boat _at four this morning, but were stopped by Iruka-Sensei," Sakura explained. "The kids accidentally broke it while trying to escape."

"Oh, that sucks. I love that song," I said, reluctantly getting out of bed. "Uh…if it's broken, then how are all you awake?"

"Cell phones," they all said simultaneously while lifting their phones up. "Too bad you don't have one."

I scoffed. "Tell me something I don't know…"

"Yo, Andi!" Kiba said, punching my upper arm. "Wake up."

I tear my gaze away from the eggs that I was picking at and stare tiredly at Kiba. "What?"

"Why are you so tired?" he asked.

"I share a cabin with two girls who love to gossip more than anything. They gossip about a certain person. Over and over again. I do not get to sleep because of this gossiping. Good night," I said, pushing my plate away and letting my face hit the table.

_Poke. Poke. Poke._

"Naruto, if you don't stop poking me, I'll kick you where the sun don't shine," I muttered, not lifting my head.

"Aw…how'd you know it was me?" he asked.

"You're sitting next to me genius," I replied.

"Oh, right," Naruto said with a chuckle before resuming eating.

"You should eat Squirt," Kankuro said, reaching across the table and poking my head. "We have a busy day."

I sighed and lifted my head. "Fine…but don't call me Squirt," I said, picking my fork up and stabbing my eggs.

"But you _are_ a Squirt," Kankuro said, smirking.

I just scowled and got back to eating.

"Cannonball!" Choji yelled, running past me and making a giant splash as he entered the pool. I shivered as the freezing cold water struck my arm, but I jumped in nonetheless. There is no way in _hell_ that I'm going to get hurled in again by the muscular fish-man…

"Hey, hey! Let's play volleyball!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. "Can we Kisame-san?"

Kisame grinned, revealing his sharp teeth. "Of course! I'll get the net!"

"We should pick teams," Kiba said.

"Yeah, but there are fifteen of us. One team would have more than the other," I said.

"I volunteer to not play," Shika said, raising his hand and leaning on the pool edge. "You know, so the teams are even…"

"Me too!" Choji said.

"Oh, look it's uneven again. I'm out too!" Ino said, joining the two boys at the pool's edge.

Neji sighed. "Anyone else out?"

Shino and Hinata swam over to the pools edge. I took a double take of Shino, shocked I hadn't noticed before. His giant coat was gone! Well, duh, since he's in a pool, but _damn_! That kid is built! Everyone here is, thanks to their ninja skills…

"Okay!" Kiba said. "It'll be me, Naruto, Sasuke, Neji and Kankuro against Sakura, Tenten, Andi, Gaara and Lee!"

"Gee, you _definitely_ don't have a stacked team," Sakura muttered sarcastically. "It's going to be Team 7 plus Kiba and Andi against Team Sand and Team Gai."

"Team 7, Sand, and Gai? What?" I asked, confused.

"Oh, when cabins split into groups of three for activities, we're given names," Sakura said. "Me, Naruto and Sasuke are team 7. Kiba, Shino and Hinata are Team 8, Ino, Shika and Choji are Team 10, Gaara, Kankuro and Temari are Team Sand and Lee, Neji and Tenten are Team Gai."

"But you're gonna be a member of Team Sand now, Squirt," Kankuro said. "Because you're replacing Temari, since she moved up to counselor."

"Oh, okay. And stop calling me Squirt!" I whined.

"Why do you get Sasuke, Naruto _and_ Kiba?" Kankuro demanded of Sakura.

"Because we have two girls on our team. Plus, you have Neji and Lee," Kiba said.

"Oh, aye. Just because we're girls means we obviously suck at more at volleyball than you guys," Tenten muttered sarcastically.

"I'd agree with you, but I really do suck at volleyball," I said, nodding at Tenten.

She just chuckled. "So does Gaara," she said, pointing to the bored looking redhead standing in the shallow end.

"Here's the net!" Kisame said, walking out of the pool shack with a net wrapped around him and making him stumble. "Stupid…freaking…net…" he muttered, fumbling with the net and trying to untangle himself. Then he tripped over the net, falling forward into the pool. "KUSO!" he yelled right before he struck the water.

"What does that mean?" I asked Sasuke.

"Shit," he replied.

"Kuso, hm? I need to remember that…" I said, tapping my chin.

Sasuke just smirked and rolled his eyes at me.

"Okay! It's untangled!" Kisame announced, finally freed from the complicated net. "I just need to set this up here…and here…" he murmured, attaching the net to the metal poles.

"Here's the ball," Kisame said, tossing it to Gaara, who caught it without a word.

He nodded at Kisame in thanks before tossing it up into the air. He jumped out of the water partway and swung his arm, serving the ball over the net to Naruto.

Naruto's at the ball in a flash, sending the ball back over the net. Kankuro gets it and hits it over the net, where it's sent back by Sasuke. I stood there, shivering slightly in the cold water while the others played. It was mainly Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba vs. Lee, Kankuro and Tenten.

"Well this is exciting," Sakura said from behind me.

I turned around to face her. "Yeah…I haven't hit the ball once…" I said with a sigh.

Sakura smiled. Then her eyes widened. "Andi, look out!"

"Wha-?" I whip around just in time for the ball to smack me in the face. "…Ow."

"Andi are you okay?" Tenten asked, looking worried. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

I held up one hand and held my nose with the other. "I'm fine. Can I get a sub please?" I asked, wading over to the side of the pool. Choji nodded and took my place, and I leaned against the pool's edge.

"Andi, let me see it," Sakura said, swimming over to me.

I shook my head. "Nope," I said, refusing to let her see my nose. "I'm good."

"Andi," Sakura said sternly. "I have some medical training. Let me see it."

"Um…" I said, I took a deep breath and quickly jerked on my nose, wincing in pain as it cracked back into place. I removed my hand and looked at Sakura. "See? It's fine!"

"_Oooh_…" Hinata said, getting woozy and fainting on Shikamaru.

"D-don't crack bones like that!" Ino exclaimed, wincing and holding her own nose, as if I were going to reach out and crack her nose.

"Sorry," I said with a shrug.

"Sakura come on!" Naruto yelled. "We need to get back to the game!"

"Coming, Naruto!" Sakura yelled back swimming over to them.

After swimming, we were sent over to a giant, smelly old barn. My nose wrinkled in disgust…it smelled like those llamas from the corral had been here. "Eesh it smells!" I exclaimed. "What are we doing here?"

"Hello," a man with a scar across his nose said, grinning in a friendly manor. What was his name again…?

"I'm Iruka-Sensei!" he said, nodding at me since everyone else knew him.

"Sensei…why does it seem that our group is always the one stuck with this job?" Ino asked.

Iruka shrugged. "It was Lady Tsunade's idea. Sorry," he said.

"Wait," I said, looking around. "What are we doing here?"

"Well, Andrea, we always have a dance on the Saturday between the two weeks that campers are here," Iruka explained. "And so we _randomly_ pick a cabin family to clean it up and decorate."

"Randomly my ass," Naruto muttered, only to have Iruka whack him in the head with a stick.

"If cabin _families_ help clean up," I said. "Why doesn't Kurenai-Sensei, Kakashi-Sensei or Asuma-Sensei help?" I asked.

"Good question!" Iruka said. He glanced furtively around. "It's because they're lazy. Kakashi is always reading his book and Kurenai and Asuma-" he stopped talking abruptly and covered his mouth, not wanting to say something.

"What about Kurenai-Sensei and Asuma-Sensei?" I asked him.

"Oh, nothing," he said.

"They're making like Deidara's art in the woods," Kankuro said with a snicker. "Bang!"

Kiba, Naruto and I started laughing while the rest of the campers either smirked or rolled their eyes. Iruka, on the other hand, decided to yell.

"Kankuro Sabaku! You do _not_ say stuff like that about your Cabin Counselors!" he exclaimed, red in the face.

"Neither of them are my Cabin Counselors," he said with a shrug. "I've got Kakashi-Sensei."

Iruka glared. "It doesn't matter! They're still a part of your Cabin Family!" He wiped the spittle from his mouth before continuing. "And, for saying such a thing, you and your group will be working on the top floor, sweeping away cobwebs and setting up the lights and sounds!"

Gaara and I turned slowly to glare at Kankuro. "You're dead," we said simultaneously.

Kankuro, Gaara and I are up on the beams supporting the roof, getting rid of cobwebs and the like. Thus far I have stepped on three dead birds and a dead squirrel. Thank god I decided to wear sneakers instead of flip flops today…

We have no harnesses or anything to keep us from falling. It's only a _fifteen foot drop_! But there's hay on the bottom…but still! I'm clinging to a pole for dear life while Kankuro and Gaara are easily walking along the beams, sweeping away cobwebs, dead animals, dust, etc.

"Come on, Squirt," Kankuro said. "Stop hugging that pole."

I just shook my head, staring over the edge.

Kankuro smirked. "You're gonna turn me on if you don't let go of that pole."

I glared and released the pole, marching across the beams as far away from Kankuro as possible. "Jerk," I muttered, kicking a dead bird off of the beam and hearing a shriek below. I dropped onto my stomach and cupped my hands over my mouth. "Sorry Sakura! It was an accident, I swear!"

"Andi! When you get your ass down here, my foot is going up it!" Sakura screeched, wiping the feathers out of her hair.

"Heheh…I think I'll just stay up here then," I said, standing back up and picking up my garbage bag containing the dead animals.

"Hey Andi," Gaara said, getting my attention. "Come here."

"…Why?" I asked suspiciously. Gaara and Kankuro were trying their best to look innocent…but innocence and the Sabaku brothers don't exactly go together.

"Just come here," Kankuro said, beckoning me over.

I sighed. "Okay, okay, I'm coming," I said, slowly crossing over to them. "What is it?"

Kankuro's arms went around my waist and hoisted me up. I let out a shriek while Gaara grabbed one leg and Kankuro moved his hands from my waist to the other leg.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded, my hands latching onto their heads as I was lifted higher.

"Stop pulling my hair!" Kankuro grunted. "We need you to go into the crawlspace and hook the wires up, since some rodent or something messed with them."

"Why the hell do I have to do it?" I asked, crouching as they lifted me as high as they could. I was avoiding the crawlspace like the plague.

"You're the smallest, genius," Gaara muttered. He then grunted in pain as I tugged on his hair. "So get in the hole already!"

"No, Andi won't fit. The hole's too small, Andi is too big!" Tenten said, staring up at us from the ground.

"That's what she said!" Kankuro and I said at the same time, me laughing despite the scary situation I was in. Kankuro took advantage of the fact that I was laughing to throw me up toward the crawlspace.

Not wanting to fall and crash down to the floor below, I instinctively threw my arms out, grabbing the wall and hoisting myself in.

I gasped for air, inhaling dust and cobwebs in the process, sending me into a coughing fit.

"You okay up there Andi?" Kankuro yelled up to me.

After the coughing fit subsided, I nodded, though he couldn't see me. "Yeah. But I swear to god, Kankuro. If I crawl through some animal droppings or something, I'm going to shove them down your throat."

Gaara snickered.

"Same goes to you, Gaara!" I said before hesitantly crawling forward, being very careful to keep an eye out for nasty animal-related substances.

"CAW!"

"Aughh!" I shrieked, shielding my face. There was the flapping of wings and then silence.

"Andi?" Kankuro exclaimed worriedly. "What's going on?"

I slowly opened my eyes and put my hands down, laughing shakily. "N-nothing. I just saw a bird…and it _caw_ed in my face…"

"Gee don't scare us like that," Kankuro said. "I thought some axe murderer was up there with you."

"Aw gee thanks Kankuro. Now I feel _soo_ much safer up here…" I muttered sarcastically, pressing on.

I arrived at the dusty old power box and stared quizzically at it. There were red, blue, yellow, black, white and purple wires sticking out every which way. "Um…guys?" I said, raising my voice so that they could hear me. "I'm at the box. What the _hell_ do I do now?"

"Oh! Hold on," Iruka yelled. The rustling of paper could be heard. "Red chords to the blue socket, blue to black, black to white, white to yellow, purple to red and yellow to purple!"

"…Okay!" I yelled, hooking them up as he said. "Now what?"

"Flip the big black switch and then turn the knob!" he yelled up.

I did as he said and the machine began humming as it turned on. "Okay! It's done! Can I get out of here now?" I yelled through the cracks.

"Yup!" Iruka yelled back.

I sighed in relief and crawled through the little tunnel toward the light and peered down. "How am I supposed to get down?" I asked.

"Jump," Kankuro said with a shrug. "We'll catch you."

"Ha ha…no," I answered flatly. "I choose life, thanks."

"Come on Andi," Gaara said. "How else are you going to get down?"

"Uh…" I said, thinking hard. I sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'll jump. But if you drop me and I die, I will haunt you guys for the rest of your life," I said.

"Yeah, yeah," Kankuro said, waving his hand dismissively. "Just jump, Squirt."

Muttering curses under my breath, I gulped and slid off of the edge, hanging down with my hands holding onto the edge. I took a deep breath and let go, dropping a few feet before being caught by Kankuro and Gaara.

I let out a sigh of relief as soon as my feet were planted firmly on the ground, albeit that the ground was actually the ceiling, but I digress.

We spent the next two hours cleaning out the filthy barn. Honestly, if they host a dance _every year_, then why do they let it get so messy? They should just have routine cleanings every other month or so, so that the campers don't have to do it…

Lunch was pizza with whatever we wanted on top. I had sausages, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and basil on mine and damn was it good!

"Andi! Kurenai-Sensei said she'll take us shopping for the dance!" Sakura said after lunch.

"I don't have money with me," I said.

"Why not?" Ino asked. "I never go _anywhere_ without my credit card…"

"Uh, yeah. I don't have one. Besides, I didn't think I'd need to bring cash to a summer camp," I replied, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning against the wall of the mess hall.

"You can borrow some of my money," Hinata said.

I smiled at her. "Thanks, but I really don't even need to buy anything. And I've never been a fan of shopping," I said…which was true, but it wasn't the whole truth. I was tired, so I figured that while they were out shopping, I could crash in the cabin and catch up on sleep.

"Alright kids," Kurenai said as she and Asuma emerged from the bushes. "We're done planning for the party now, so we can go shopping."

"I didn't know party planning involved banging," Kankuro whispered to me.

"It depends what kind of party you're going to," I whispered back with a snicker. He chuckled.

"Andi isn't going with us," Tenten said. "She doesn't like shopping, and she doesn't have money with her."

"Oh, Andi…will you be alright with us leaving you behind with the boys?" she asked, eyeing the crowd of ten boys.

I nodded. "No big deal. I hang out with a bunch of guys all the time," I said with a shrug.

"Well, if you're sure…" she said, looking at me and giving me one last chance to go with them.

"I'm sure," I said with a nod. "Have fun."

"Shopping!" Ino squealed, hugging Sakura quickly before dashing off in the direction of the parking lot toward Kurenai's car.

The rest of the girls and Kurenai grinned before walking off after her, leaving me behind with the boys, Asuma and Kakashi.

"So you hang out with boys a lot, eh?" Kiba asked. "What do you do with them, hmm?" he asked with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm on an all boys hockey team you perv," I said, flicking him in the nose. "If I can handle twelve guys who love nothing more than ramming people into the boards, I think I can handle the ten of you."

He scrunched his nose up and jerked his head back, rubbing it in discomfort.

"Alright, settle down," Kakashi said. "Let's get to the next class."

"Next…class? But I thought we were done! That's why the girls left, right?" I asked.

Asuma shook his head. "Nope. The girls do their shopping when we have a combined Wilderness and Outdoor Nature class that lasts like four and a half hours."

My jaw dropped. Four…and a half…hours…with Tobi and Zetsu…?

"It'll be fun!" Naruto said, slapping me on the back while Sasuke brought his hand to my chin and shut my mouth. "After the hike, we get to swim in the lake!"

"How long is the hike?" I asked.

"Ten miles!" Lee exclaimed.

My eyes bugged out.

"Round trip, of course," Neji said, smirking.

"Damn…" I muttered.

"Hello everybody!" Tobi exclaimed excitedly while Zetsu just nodded at us. "Are you all excited for you- wait! There's a girl here! I didn't notice because of your hat, Andi-chan!"

…_Chan? _

I sighed. I was wearing my black and white skull baseball cap that my sister Marian had given me, sideways. Apparently that made me look like a boy…

Naruto laughed and clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Yup! Andi here would rather go on a ten mile hike and swim in the lake instead of shopping!"

"Such youth!" Lee exclaimed, holding a fist up in front of his face.

"Okay! Let's move out!" Tobi said, spinning on one heel and walking away.

"**Tobi…"** Zetsu said in a deep voice. "We need to go over safety, remember?" he asked in his other voice.

Tobi halted mid-step and swiveled around on one foot again, facing us this time. "Oh! Right! Thank you, Zetsu-san!"

He marched back over to us and reached into his backpack, which was still on his back, and began struggling. Half of Zetsu rolled his eye while the other half chuckled.

I couldn't help but find that…weird. But I'm getting used to it.

Zetsu placed a hand on Tobi's shoulder, putting a cease to his struggling. Zetsu reached into Tobi's backpack and handed him a clipboard.

"Right! First things first!" Tobi said, reading the paper. "Everyone get with their traveling buddy!"

"Who?" I asked.

"Basically, since the girls aren't normally here, we just get into our regular groups, minus the girls. But since you're here, you're with Kankuro and Gaara," Shika said, nudging me in their direction.

"Yo," I said, nodding at them.

"Don't wander off of the trail," Tobi continued. "Avoid poison ivy and poison oak, don't touch the wild animals, don't eat the mushrooms on the side of the trail…"

"Why would they need _that_ rule?" I asked, referring to the mushroom rule.

Gaara just nodded in Choji's direction.

"Ah…" I said, nodding.

"And if you have to pee, bring a buddy!" Tobi finished.

"…You're joking, right?" I asked.

Tobi cocked his head to the side. "Hmm…you shouldn't use the bathroom without a buddy…but there aren't any _girls_ here besides you… ah, just hold it in if you have to go!" he said, smiling cheerfully before spinning around and beginning his march.

"Words of wisdom," I said, shaking my head and following the guys, standing between Kankuro and Gaara with Asuma and Kakashi behind us with Zetsu at the very rear.

"Are we there yet?" I asked Zetsu.

"…"

"Are we there yet?" I asked again.

"…"

I sighed. "Dude, I know you at least speak English…" I whined. "Hey, how do you say 'are we there yet' in Japanese?"

"Mada tsuka nai no," Sasuke replied easily.

"Oh!" I said. "Eh…how do you know Japanese so well?"

"I live in Japan," he replied offhandedly.

I stared slack-jawed at him. "You came all the way over to the States for _Summer Camp_?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Why not?"

I just stopped in my tracks and watched him walk away.

A hand clapped against my back. "Have money, will travel," Kankuro said matter-of-factly.

"I guess so," I said, finding it hard to believe that he would come all the way over here to spend two weeks at camp…

I cleared my throat. "Hey, Zetsu-san. Mada…tsuku…no…nai…?" I asked him.

"It's _Mada tsuka nai no_,baka," Sasuke called over his shoulder.

"Oh, whatever. Are we there yet?" I asked in English, since I obviously failed Japanese.

"…"

"Tell me again…_why_ am I the only girl on this hike?" I asked them.

"Because, Andi," Naruto said. "The other girls wanted to go to town to buy supplies and whatnot for the dance this weekend and _you_ didn't."

"…Oh. Right," I said, nodding. We had been hiking for about three miles, and I have successfully gotten a rock stuck in my shoe with no intention of coming out, no matter how hard I try. I've stumbled over tree roots and walked into spider webs, but I haven't shrieked girlishly.

After that experience in the crawlspace, I think I can handle a mere spider web…

As we continue our hike, I can't help but zone out, thinking about what would have happened if I had decided to go shopping with them instead. Sure, I don't like malls or shopping _period_, but surely it'd be better than trudging five miles to the lake and then five miles back. I mean, what is po-

"Gah!" I yelp, placing my foot down wrong and flying face first into the dirt.

"That's what happens when you daydream while hiking…" Kankuro said, sighing and coming to a halt beside me.

"Shut up," I muttered, placing my hands on the ground and pushing myself up. I stood up, felt an icy feeling in my ankle, and collapsed sideways into Gaara.

"Whoa," Gaara said, catching me and helping me stand again. "You okay?"

I nodded and took a step forward and yet again felt the icy feeling in my right ankle. I started to fall again, but arms wrapped around my waist and gently sat me down on the ground.

"Calm down Andi," Kakashi said, crouching beside me on the ground. "Tobi!"

Tobi, who was at the front of the group, turned around and ran over to us. "What's the problem?" he asked, tilting his head to the side and looking down at me.

"Check her ankle out, would you?" Kakashi asked, standing and leaning against one of the trees.

Tobi dropped down into a crouch in front of me and his face changed completely. It was no longer goofy and carefree, but observant and serious. He reached out and grabbed my ankle lifting it slightly off of the ground.

I hissed in pain.

"Relax, Andi-chan," Tobi said in a very serious voice. "I just need to check to see if you broke it."

I bit my lip and nodded, and he began to slowly rotate my ankle, kneading his fingers into it, feeling the bones.

"Hmm…" he said, gently placing it back on the ground. "You just twisted it, but you won't be able to walk on it…Once we're at the beach, you can swim around in the water to strengthen it without exerting pressure on it."

"Um, Tobi-san? How will I get to the beach if I can't walk?" I asked him.

His eyes lit up and the serious expression melted away into his normal, happy face. "One of Andi-chan's friends will carry her!" he said, jumping off the ground and heading back to the front of the group.

"Uh…" I never got to ask my question because I was scooped up and slung over someone's shoulder, giving me a perfect view of their ass.

"Oi! Kankuro! Get your ass out of my face!" I exclaimed, trying to lift my body up so I wouldn't be too near it.

"Actually, Squirt," Kankuro said. "It's your face that's in my ass, not the other way around…" he said with a chuckle.

I snarled and made a fist, punching the back of his knee cap. He stumbled a bit but didn't lose his footing. "Tsk. That wasn't very nice."

"Yeah, well neither is your ass," I replied.

He chuckled. "On the contrary, Squirt, I was told numerous times by numerous girls that I have a _very _nice ass…"

"Were they blind?" I muttered.

Kakashi, Asuma and Gaara chuckled, and Kankuro swiftly raised his shoulder, nailing me in the gut and making a very _un_ladylike "Oof!" escape my lips.

"Isn't there another way to carry me?" I asked. "That doesn't involve my face being in such close proximity to your ass?"

He came to an abrupt halt, and I shut my mouth, worried that I'd upset him and he'd just drop me. What he did instead was sling my body around as if it were nothing and began carrying me piggy-back style.

"Is this better, Squirt?" he asked, tilting his head back to look at me.

I nodded and rested my chin on his head, my arms draped loosely around his shoulders. "Yup!"

I smiled when we arrived at the lake. There was a giant stretch of sand with several large rocks overhanging the lake that you could sit on or jump off of into the lake. The waves were crashing gently against the shore and rocks, not wildly like it sometimes does.

Kankuro put me on a rock before he shed his shirt and shoes and cannonballed into the lake with a loud "Wahoo!"

Within no time at all, everyone, Senseis included, was in the lake…except for me and Gaara.

"Aren't you going to go in, Gaara?" I asked him. He was sitting on the big rock next to mine, knees up and arms loosely wrapped around them as he stared at the lake.

He just shrugged. "Probably not. What about you? Don't you need to strengthen your ankle?"

"Oh, right," I said. I gingerly pulled off my socks and sneakers, keeping my tank top and shorts on, before crawling over to the edge of the rock and dropping into the water.

After a few minutes of swimming, I was able to stand on it again.

By now, Gaara had removed his shoes and shirt; he was just sitting on the rock boredly.

"Gaara, come on in! The lake is way warmer than the pool!" I called up to him.

"Yeah, come on Gaara!" Naruto yelled.

"Yes, Gaara. The water is wonderful!" Lee agreed as he clambered onto a rock. I looked away. I am still not used to seeing Lee in a tight green speedo. Lee took a deep breath before running and jumping back into the lake.

"I'm fine, really," Gaara said.

"Psst, Andi," Choji said, poking me in the side.

"What?" I asked, spinning around to face him.

He leaned forward and whispered in my ear. I snickered and nodded and sneakily exited the water.

"Come on, lil bro! Just get in the lake!" Kankuro yelled.

"Come on Gaara," Sasuke said. "If I'm in, you have to come in too."

"Likewise," Shino said with a nod.

Gaara just shook his head, his gaze locked on the horizon.

I, meanwhile, had come up behind him, creeping stealthily until I was directly behind him. "Gaara!" I yelled, startling him enough for him to drop his guard, enabling me to push him into the lake. He grabbed my arm on the way down, and the both of us went crashing in to the eight foot deep water.

We both surfaced and began spitting out water and gasping for air. Screaming whilst falling into the water is never a good idea…unless, of course, you _like_ mouthfuls of dirty lake water…

"Andi…" Gaara said, glaring at me.

"…Yes?" I asked innocently.

He just grabbed my shoulders and dunked me under water. I came back up laughing and a dunking war commenced.

After swimming for a good half of an hour, the counselors made us leave the lake.

"Okay!" I yelled, getting one more dunk in on Sasuke before running to the safety of the beach, clothes dripping wet. Sasuke, once he surfaced, threw a chunk of seaweed while he was coming out of the water.

I made a disgusted face and peeled it away from my body and dropped it onto the sand.

While the guys were busy pulling their shirts on, I was peeling my tank top off and squeezing it dry before pulling it back on and doing the same with my shorts.

"Towels," Kakashi said, tossing small hand-towels to each of us.

We ran the towels through our hair and over our bodies. I sat down and dried my feet thoroughly before pulling my socks and sneakers on, because nothing is more uncomfortable than hiking with soggy sneakers.

"Okay! Buddy up and let's go!" Tobi said, one hand in the air as he spun around and began the hike through the woods.

We grabbed our buddies and slowly trudged after him, disappointed at having to leave the lake.

After walking for about a mile, Kankuro began whining.

"Man…I'm tired…" he complained, wiping away beads of sweat. He looked at me, a devilish glint in his eyes.

"…Kankuro? Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, sidestepping away from him and closer to Gaara.

He smirked. "No reason, Andi. Why do you ask?"

"Gah! You called me Andi! You only call me Squirt unless it's a serious situation or you're planning something evil!" I declared, scooting closer to Gaara.

Kankuro stopped, looking hurt. "Aw gee Andi. That was mean…"

"Sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to-!"

I was cut off by Kankuro jumping up and latching onto my back, piggy-back style.

"K-Kankuro!" I exclaimed, stumbling forward due to his weight and then pitching sideways. Gaara quickly stepped out of the way, and Kankuro and I tumbled down a little hill, hitting logs and rocks and god knows what else on the way.

When we finally rolled to a stop, Kankuro was no longer attached to me. I was face down in the dirt, and he was on his back.

"Kankuro…" I began, voice muffled.

"Yeah?" he asked weakly, turning his head to face me.

"You're an idiot."

"Yeah. I know," he agreed, forcing himself into sitting position. He stood up and bent over, helping me up.

"Oh man that was awesome!" Naruto yelled, standing at the top of the ridge and pointing down and laughing at us.

Kankuro and I exchanged glances and picked up a few of the bigger sticks and began chucking them at him and anyone else that was laughing.

When we _finally_ made it back to the campsite, everyone else was already at dinner. We were a bit late because of some, ah, minor detours. Naruto thought he knew a shortcut. He didn't.

"You guys are late!" Tenten said as we strolled into the mess hall as dessert was being passed out. "What took you guys so long?"

We all just pointed at Naruto, who chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Oops?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned to me. "So? How was the hike?"

I thought about it. Bug bites, bruises, stick fights, water-dunking-wars, piggy-back rides, getting lost and getting stuck in a mud puddle. "…Awesome!"


	10. Camp Konoha 09

**Chapter Nine**

"Andi-!"

"Don't you dare," I muttered, voice muffled from my face being in my pillow. I lifted my arm to grab the pillow that was being swung at me and yanked it away before tossing it over my shoulder, smirking slightly as Ino let out a loud, "Oof!"

I sat up and yawned before glaring at Sakura. "You know, you guys don't _need_ to beat me with a pillow every morning to wake me up…"

Sakura shrugged. "How else are we supposed to wake you?"

I paused, thinking about this. "Well, my mom likes to shout _Andrea! If you're not up in five minutes, you don't get breakfast!_ So…that might work," I shrugged.

Tenten nodded. "Okay. We'll do that from now on!"

I rolled my eyes and got out of bed, slipping a bathing suit on over my shorts and loose t-shirt. We're going canoeing again with Deidara, and I _don't _want to risk getting tipped into the pond by Kiba without a bathing suit on. Once was bad enough!

"Who's ready to go canoeing, un?" Deidara asked us very _un_enthusiastically.

He was leaning back on a lawn chair, clad in nothing but swim trunks and sunglasses. Abs…arms…legs…

Gah! Do all guys have to be so fit and good looking here? I mean, even Kisame and Zetsu are somewhat good looking, and they're blue and black and white!

Tenten, noticing the direction of my gaze, snickered and elbowed me. I snapped out of it and stuck my tongue out at her.

"Um…Deidara Senpai?" Sakura began. "Where are your clothes?"

"It's summer, Sakura. Clothes are over-rated," Deidara mumbled, folding his hands behind his head and leaning back.

"Awesome!" Naruto whooped, tearing his shirt off and swinging it around over his head.

Deidara sat up and pushed his sunglasses down. "For me, Naruto-baka, not you."

Naruto frowned and grudgingly pulled his shirt back on, completely unaware of the beet-faced Hinata all but drooling at the sight of his abs.

Deidara, however, _did_ notice Hinata, and chuckled. "Alright, get in your groups and start canoeing. Un," he said, putting his shades back over his eyes and lying down.

I joined Gaara and Kankuro and the three off us tipped a canoe over and carried it over to the pond, putting it carefully in the water. Gaara hopped in while Kankuro went to get the oars.

"Guys," Gaara said, speaking up. "We're taking in water."

"Huh?" Kankuro asked. "But that's impossible. We just put it in…"

"Hey! Our canoe is taking in water too!" Ino exclaimed, jumping out and shaking the pond water off of her purple flip flops.

"So is ours," Neji said, trying to get calmly out of his canoe, but tripping over Lee in his haste and landing face-first on the ground.

Naruto snorted and pointed at Neji, starting to laugh, when he suddenly gasped. "There's water in mine too!" he yelped, standing up abruptly and consequently tipping over and soaking himself in the pond.

Sasuke snorted and immediately looked away to hide his laughter.

"I found the hole!" Kiba declared, pointing to his canoe.

"That's what he said!" Kankuro stated, making me and a few of the guys chuckle.

"That looks like an _O_…" Hinata said quietly.

Kiba shook his head. "Nah, it's just a circle."

"Ours looks like an _S_," Gaara pointed out.

"So does ours," Naruto said, shaking his head and spraying everyone with pond water.

"We have an _R_," Tenten said.

"Ours is an _I_," Choji pointed out.

"What does it mean?" Naruto asked. "SOS IR? ROS IS?"

"Look for an _A_," I said, thinking the letters over.

The fifteen of us set out, inspecting the rest of the canoes that weren't in use.

"Found it," Sasuke said, pointing to it. "Why were we looking for an _A_?"

"_S -A_-_S_-_O_-_R_-_I_," I said.

"Look! There he is!" Tenten exclaimed, pointing across the pond.

There, sitting calmly in the longest canoe, was Sasori no Danna, smirking ever-so-slightly at us. He tilted his head to his left, signaling for us to look to the tip of his canoe. There, on the bow, was the word _SASORI_, made out of wooden letters the same color as our canoes.

Deidara clenched his fists. "Sasori no Danna! Did you have to sabotage my canoes?" he bellowed across the pond, shaking one fist in the air.

Sasori shrugged. "Did _you_ have to stick clay under my bed during lunch and then blow them up whilst I was sleeping last night?" he countered.

"You may have won _this_ battle, Danna, but the war isn't over!" Deidara yelled.

Sasori just smirked and lifted up a chunk of wood, looking strikingly similar to the wood of Deidara Senpai's canoe, and began carving it calmly.

Deidara let loose a string of Japanese curses and stormed into his canoe shack, blond hair swinging back and forth as he stomped away. "Ketsunoana…baka kuso atama…bakayaro…"

"…So…what are we supposed to do until canoeing is over?" Naruto asked.

We all shrugged and got comfortable, either leaning against trees or sitting on the ground or canoes. "If the senseis were here," Sakura began. "We could leave and do some fun activity, like amoeba tag, but they're preparing for the Big Event…"

"Heya kids," Temari said, strolling casually into the clearing. "What's the matter? Canoes not seaworthy?"

"Do you know something about this, Temari?" Kankuro asked accusingly.

Temari tried to smile innocently, but scoffed. "Aw, hell," she muttered before smirking. "Yeah, I do. Sasori recruited me and a few others to fight against Deidara and his little army. He's fixing my fan _and_ giving me a good job for the Big Event as payment!"

"What in the hell is this Big Event you are all talking about?" I demanded.

"You'll find out later, Squirt," Kankuro said, cuffing me under my chin.

I scowled.

"So…" Temari began, looking around. "Your cabin counselors are obviously _not_ here. _Soo_…how about I take charge of you guys until lunch?"

"Awesome!" Tenten exclaimed, jumping off her canoe and punching the air. "What are we gonna do?"

Temari smirked.

"So…let me get this straight," Shikamaru began. "You want us to run a mile just for the hell of it?"

Temari shrugged. "Well, you'll need the muscles for your campout tonight. Knowing Tobi, you guys will probably end up getting chased down by a bear…"

"There are no bears in this area, Temari," Gaara stated.

"It was a joke, lil' bro," Temari said, raising an eyebrow. "Anyway, you don't necessarily need to run. You could walk it for all I care. Just complete the mile!"

"Why?" Ino asked, clearly not excited by the idea of walking a mile in flip flops.

"Because I said so," Temari shrugged. "Simple as that. Go!"

Grumbles were heard all around as we grudgingly left Temari and made our way to the field.

"Twenty one laps equals one mile!" she yelled, and we could all hear the smirk in her voice. "Don't take too long kiddos! You wouldn't want to be too late to lunch! I'm off to get donuts!"

Temari turned on her heel, sauntering away to get herself donuts and leaving us to run.

"Just wait til I'm a counselor-in-training," Kankuro grumbled to me. "Then I'll be able to boss people around and make my little sibling miserable."

"You wouldn't dare," Gaara muttered darkly to Kankuro.

"Heheh…joke…" Kankuro said, sidestepping away from Gaara and towards me.

I chuckled and glanced ahead, slightly surprised to see Naruto, Sasuke and Lee running quickly around the course.

"I…will…not…lose…!" Lee declared as he passed by me and the rest of the walkers, followed closely by Naruto and Sasuke.

"Why are they running?" I asked no one in particular.

"…So we can get it over with!" Naruto exclaimed as he ran by again.

I shrugged. "Good idea."

And then I was off, tearing around the course in an attempt to catch up with the three boys, only to be joined by Kiba, Neji and Kankuro.

"Race ya, Squirt," Kiba said, winking.

I laughed, having no trouble breathing despite running quickly since I'm a seasoned soccer player. "Bring it, Inuzuka!"

He smirked and the two of us began running even faster, overlapping just about everyone numerous times. The only people we didn't overlap were Sasuke, Naruto and Lee, because they too had picked up the pace in order to 'not lose' or something like that.

Half an hour had passed and we were still sprinting at top speed, my leg muscles screaming at me to stop and take a break, but I would have none of it. Neji and Kankuro had already sat down, but Sasuke, Naruto, Lee, Kiba and I were still running.

"You know…we only had to do twenty-one laps…" Ino said as the group of us ran past the people who had already finished their mile. "You guys have done like three times as much as you need to!"

"You…hear that…Squirt?" Kiba panted to me. "Any time…you want to…quit…feel free…to…"

I forced a smirk. "After you…Kiba…"

"I…will…not…lose…!" Lee declared again, yet again picking up the pace.

Our eyes all widened momentarily before we gritted our teeth and somehow found the strength to go even faster.

"Look how smooth a runner Sasuke is!" Sakura exclaimed dreamily. "The way his muscles tense and relax on each stride, and how beads of sweat trickle down his face, and the way his arms pump as he runs…"

She and Ino sighed in unison, gazing lovingly (obsessively) at Sasuke. Kiba, Naruto and I rolled our eyes and Naruto poked Sasuke in the hip.

"Fangirls…Sasuke…" he taunted, panting for breath but refusing to stop running.

"Stop running!" Temari yelled, suddenly reappearing, though with donuts in her hand and a cooler being dragged by her other hand.

Lee immediately came to a halt, causing the unsuspecting Naruto to crash right into him, resulting in Sasuke and myself running into _him_ and then making Kiba run into _us_, sending the whole lot of us crashing to the floor in one big, sweaty heap.

"Orgy!" Kankuro yelled with a laugh, only to get hit on the head by Temari, Tenten, Ino and Sakura.

The five of us grunted and struggled to disentangle ourselves from each other, finding this easier said than done.

"I can't free my leg!" Naruto exclaimed, yanking on a leg.

"That's because that's _my_ leg, baka!" Sasuke exclaimed, squeezing his eyes shut and gritting his teeth in pain.

"…Oh," Naruto said, dropping Sasuke's leg and then finding his and pulling it out, freeing himself.

"What kind of idiot can't tell his own leg apart from others?" Kiba asked, freeing himself from the pile and walking away, rolling his shoulders and massaging his calves.

"Sasuke! Get your ass off of my arm," I growled, pulling it away as soon as he complied. I walked away and collapsed onto the grass by Tenten and Gaara, ignoring Tenten as she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"You smell bad, Andi," she said, waving the air.

"I just ran like six and a half miles," I mumbled, face in the grass. "Did you really think I'd smell like a bed of roses?"

"No, but still…" she said, trailing off.

"Damn it is _hot_!" Naruto exclaimed, tearing his shirt off again and wiping his face with it.

Hinata, since she was sitting right across from him, nearly fainted, but was caught by Shino.

Naruto, ever the oblivious one, raised his arm and sniffed. "Do I really smell that bad? Sorry, Hinata!"

"Moron…" Neji said, shaking his head slowly and speaking loud enough for only a few of us to hear. "Even _I_ can tell that Hinata likes him…"

Gaara kicked me in the shoulder. "Come on, Andi. Kiba has a water bottle for you over there."

I slowly shook my head. "No way. Too tired. He can come over here."

"No way!" Kiba yelled. "You want water, you get your lazy ass over here yourself!"

"No thanks then," I muttered, letting my face fall back into the grass.

"I've got ice cream for you guys!" Temari yelled, opening the cooler she had with her.

I was on my feet in second and in front of the cooler in no time, holding my hand out for ice cream.

Kiba blinked. "I thought you were tired!"

I grinned. "I'm never too tired for ice cream," I said, though as soon as the ice cream was in my hand, I dropped onto the ground, lying on my back as I lazily tore the wrapper off of my ice cream cone and shoved it in my mouth.

"Tch. You're so weird, Andi," Sasuke said, smirking at me.

"Screw you, Uchiha," I muttered, wincing as I stretched my sore legs and continued eating my ice cream.

"Gah, I need a massage," Kankuro said, falling onto his stomach right next to me. He turned his gaze over to me, a weird look in his eye. "You don't happen to give massages, do you, Squirt?"

"Tch. No," I replied, mouth full of ice cream.

"Aw come on…I'm sore…" he whined.

"Dude. You ran _one_ mile. I ran six and a half. Who do you think is sorer?" I asked him.

He didn't reply.

I smirked. "Yeah, that's what I thought…" I said, turning my gaze away from him and back up to the sky as I finished up my ice cream.

Then Kankuro smirked. "Look, Andi, if you _really_ want my hands roaming all over your nice little body, all you had to do was ask…" he said slyly.

"Kankuro!" I exclaimed, whacking him in the chest. "Pervert! That's not what I meant!"

He just laughed. "_Sure_ you didn't…" he said disbelievingly.

I scowled at him and rolled onto my side, keeping my back to him.

He ran a finger up the back of my neck. "You're just in _denial_…" he said.

I swung my leg back, kicking him hard in the leg. He grunted. "Okay. I'm stopping now…" he said.

After lunch, me and the rest of my groups were sent back to our cabins to pack up for out campout.

"Okay. Sleeping bag, cell phone, pillow, air mattress, extra blanket, extra clothes, tooth brush, tooth paste, hand sanitizer, air freshener…. Ano…what else, Sakura?" Ino said, listing things off and then turning to Sakura for help.

"Do you really need all that? And more?" I asked, shoving my clothes and pillow into my sleeping bag and sticking my arms in the straps. "How will you brush your teeth in the middle of the woods?"

"I've done it before, Andi, I can do it again," Ino said determinedly. "Granted, carrying a giant liter bottle isn't what I want to do, but if it's necessary, I will!"

"Uh…can't you just wait til tomorrow morning? We'll all smell bad and have bad breath, so it's not like you'll stand out," I said with a shrug.

Ino just stared at me before turning away and continuing her packing.

"Ignore her," Tenten said, hopping onto my bed beside me. "You'll never convince her to do anything but what she wants once she has her mind set."

Hinata nodded and strapped her pillow to her sleeping bag. "Yeah. Just hope you don't end up having to help her carry her stuff…"

"Okay Tenten! I need your help dragging my air mattress out from under my bed!" Ino yelled.

"Make yourself scarce!" Hinata said, grabbing my forearm and tugging me out of the cabin, laughing quietly all the while.

We ran out of the cabin, followed by Sakura, and hid by the side of our cabin, peeking our head out every so often.

"Whatcha doing?" someone asked, putting a cold hand on my shoulder.

We screamed and jumped up, grabbing each other.

The guy snorted. "Why so jumpy?"

"Kankuro! Don't sneak up on us when we're hiding from Ino!" Sakura exclaimed, slapping him on the arm.

He frowned and rubbed his arm before realization dawned on him. "Ohh…Ino packing for camping now?"

Hinata nodded. "She always wants to bring a lot of stuff…"

"I know," Kankuro said. "Who do you think gets stuck carrying a lot of her crap?"

"Choji, Shikamaru and you," Sakura said, crossing her arms and leaning against the cabin.

Kankuro nodded. "You got it. But not this year. No way. If she wants to bring all that junk, _she_ can carry it herself!" he declared.

"Where are my helpers?" Ino yelled, poking her head out the door. Kankuro grabbed my waist and pulled me back, hiding with the three of us.

"Don't let her see you," he hissed into my ear. "She'll drag you into this. And then me, too!"

"Why would she make you if she made me?" I asked him.

"I'm in your group, Andi," he replied.

"Well…what about Gaara?" I asked.

His face became serious. "No one makes _Gaara_ do _anything_…"

"Are we there yet?" Ino whined. "I'm _tired_…" She was carrying a big backpack and a water bottle and was sweating like a dog in a Chinese restaurant.

"_You're_ tired?" Choji asked. "How do you think _I_ feel?

Choji was stuck carrying her air mattress, bag (full) of clothes, sleeping bag and pillow.

"You're so troublesome, Ino," Shikamaru mumbled from behind the giant blanket, other pillow, bag of toiletries and another blanket.

I laughed. "It _really_ sucks to be you guys…"

Choji frowned. "Ino, why can't you pack light like Andi?"

I just grinned and shook my sleeping bag, the only thing I was carrying. It had my pillow and clothes in it, and was rolled up while I used the straps of the bag as shoulder straps to hold it.

My iPod was in my butt pocket with my left earbud in my ear and the right one dangling, so I could listen to music and talk to people at the same time.

"What are you listening to?" Gaara asked, coming up to me with a backpack and sleeping bag on his back.

"Alesana," I replied.

Gaara nodded and grabbed my other earbud and popped it in his ear, listening with me, bobbing his head ever so slightly to the beat.

"Whoa! You have music that Gaara _likes_?" Tenten gasped.

I turned my head slightly, so the earbud wouldn't fall out, and shrugged. "Apparently."

Her jaw dropped. "He is so picky when it comes to music though!"

"Well I like a lot of music, so I guess I was bound to have something that he would like," I said.

"But still…" Sakura said. "That's rare."

"…You guys know that he can hear you, right?" I asked them.

Gaara turned slightly and waved before facing forward again.

Sakura and Tenten blushed and stared at the ground as they continued walking.

"Tobi-san…are we lost?" Naruto asked, looking around.

Tobi laughed. "Of course not, silly. We're just, um, unsure of our current location…" he mumbled, looking at his map. "Let's see…there should be a river there…No? Hm…must be a misprint! But there should be a pond to the right…but there isn't…Another misprint!"

"Um…I don't think those are misprints…" Kiba said, walking over to Tobi and looking at the map with him. "Let's see. There are the rocks that have faces, and the mountains are to the east, so… TOBI-SAN! WE'RE ON THE EXACT OPPOSITE PLACE OF WHERE WE SHOULD BE!"

Tobi shrank away, covering his ears and frowning slightly. "So…does that mean we're…lost?"

Kiba groaned and slammed his head against a tree trunk. "No, we're not lost. We're just very, _very_ far from where we should be…"

Shino rolled his eyes and took the map from Kiba and scanned it. "Alright. Let's go this way," he said, pointing and beginning the march in the _proper_ direction…I hope.

Tobi followed close behind Shino, peeking over Shino's shoulder and learning how to read a map the right way, asking Shino a question from time to time.

"Well this _sucks_!" Ino whined, dropping back to talk to me. "I mean, we've wasted so much time! We're not going to get to the campsite til nightfall at this rate!"

"I guess we'll have to run," Kankuro said with a smirk.

"Yes! Running is very youthful and invigorating! I agree with Kankuro!" Lee exclaimed.

"It was a joke!" Kankuro exclaimed. "No running!"

"Don't tell me that you're tired, Kanky," I said with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes and nudged my arm. "Shut it, Squirt. I happen to have more stuff than you, so of course I'm tired."

"Well, Kankuro," I said. "You're also bigger and _stronger_ so it should be no big deal for you."

"Whatever, Andi…" he muttered, kicking a rock at Neji.

Neji just kicked it back, nailing Kankuro in the shin.

"…Can I have a piggyback ride?" I asked, sidling up to Kankuro, Gaara right beside me so he could continue listening to my music.

Kankuro rolled his eyes. "No way. That was a one-time thing, Squirt."

I sighed and continued trudging along.

"Whoa! You gave Andi a piggyback ride? Why? You're never nice to us," Tenten said. "At least, not _that_ nice…"

"She sprained her ankle and couldn't walk," Kankuro stated flatly. "It's not like I had a choice in the matter."

"Actually, he volunteered to," Naruto put in. "He just scooped her up and started carrying her without even needing to be asked."

"He really _does_ have a soft spot…" Sasuke said mockingly.

"Shut up," Kankuro grumbled, shooting me a glare before picking up the pace.

I frowned, not knowing what I did to upset him. I glanced at Gaara, and he just shrugged.

"FINALLY!" Ino exclaimed, dropping her bags onto the forest floor and then dropping to her knees, raising her arms to the air and proclaiming her thanks to the heavens.

"You're _kinda_ dramatic…" Sakura said, though I could tell she was equally relieved to finally be able to drop her backpack. "Naruto! Where's _my_ air mattress?"

"Right…here…Sakura…" Naruto panted, dropping _her_ air mattress and collapsing to the ground. "Why couldn't Sasuke carry it?"

Sakura frowned. "I couldn't make _Sasuke_ carry my things! He could hurt himself!"

Sasuke stared at her for a minute. "Hn."

"Okay! Step one for your Wilderness Challenge is to set up camp!" Tobi exclaimed, shoving a packet into his backpack.

Sakura and Ino pointed to Naruto and Choji, and the boys tossed the air mattresses to the ground. The girls pulled remotes out of their backpacks and pushed a button, instantly inflating the mattresses. Then Shikamaru and Naruto set the blankets, sheets and pillows up, letting the two girls collapse on to their mattresses.

I rolled my eyes at them and unrolled my sleeping bag, crawling in and grabbing my clothes and pillow, setting them up before leaning back comfortably.

"Be sure to set up camp near your groups!" Tobi reminded us.

Groans were heard around as the guys dragged their sleeping bags over to the girls in their groups. Kankuro rested on my left and Gaara on my right.

After we were all settled, Tobi pulled his packet out again. "Start a fire and roast the food your counselor has provided! …Your…counselor…has…provided…?"

We all stared at him.

"Was Tobi supposed to bring food?" he asked, pointing to himself.

"YES!" we all exclaimed.

He frowned and mulled it over. "Well, I guess it's a good time to test what you learned in Outdoor Nature…find yourself some food!"

"Guys! I brought marshmallows!" Choji exclaimed, reaching into his bag. "And graham crackers and chocolate!"

"Alright Choji!" most of us cheered.

"What are _we_ supposed to eat?" Ino asked, gesturing to us girls.

"S'mores!" me and Tenten said cheerily as Hinata nodded in agreement.

Ino and Sakura frowned. "Well, into the woods we go…" Sakura said to Ino.

"Bring a buddy with you!" Tobi exclaimed.

"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed.

He shook his head. "Sorry. I, uh, have to start the fire… Naruto will go with you."

"Sure thing, Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping to his feet and joining the grumbling Sakura.

Shikamaru got up and joined Ino, and the four set off in search of food.

"…Well, Sasuke? Start that fire!" Choji said, spearing several marshmallows on a roasting stick that he happened to have in his bag.

Sasuke nodded and walked over to a barren patch of dirt and began building a fire.

I lay on my stomach on my sleeping bag, watching in mild interest whilst picking at the grass, snickering whenever he totally _failed_ at making the fire.

_POKE!_

"What's going on?" I exclaimed, waking with a start.

"Sorry," Kankuro said, trying to fix his sleeping bag. "Accident."

"What happened?" I asked sleepily.

"You fell asleep while Sasuke the wonder dummy over there tried to start a fire…" Kankuro said, jerking his thumb in the Uchiha's direction.

Sasuke scowled. "Shut up! These things are hard to build!"

Tobi laughed. "Silly Sasuke. All Uchihas should be able to start a simple fire! Itachi-san is the best at starting fires!"

Sasuke glared and continued trying to start a fire.

I rolled my eyes and crawled over to Sasuke, snatching the lighter from him and reorganizing the wood and kindling and the like.

"This goes on the bottom to start the fire, then the twigs, then the branches and then the logs…" I said to Sasuke, rebuilding the fire. "And then…" I flicked the lighter on and brought it to the kindling, lighting it up immediately and blowing on it to get it growing.

Nodding in satisfaction, I crawled backwards back to my sleeping bag and stared at the fire, noticing the stares of the people surrounding me.

"What?" I asked defensively. "My family is a sissy when it comes to fires. I always have to start them when we roast marshmallows!"

"I do believe you were just owned by the newbie, Sasuke," Kiba said with a smirk.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes, ignoring the chuckles.

"BEE!" Ino screeched, charging out of the forest and screaming in terror.

"Ino! It's just a bee!" Shikamaru yelled, jogging after her and carrying various fruits that they had presumably found in the forest.

"Fuck bees! I will punch every bee in the face!" Naruto exclaimed, literally punching the bee as it flew after Ino.

"Dane Cook!" I laughed.

We're all lying on our sleeping bags, or air mattresses, on our backs and staring at the sky. Tobi assigned us the task of finding certain constellations, and I am totally lost.

"See that one?" Gaara asked, pointing. "That is part of Orion's belt, which is composed of those three stars…"

"Which one?" I asked, tilting my head and trying to find it.

He moved his head closer to mine so he could see at my angle and grabbed my wrist, reaching up and guiding my arm. "Those three. And _these_ are all Orion the Hunter."

I smiled and started to turn my head to face him, but realized our close proximity and settled with just glancing at him. "You never really struck me as the stargazing type, Gaara…"

He dropped my arm and folded his hands on his chest, shrugging.

Then Kankuro spoke up. "Gaara has trouble sleeping, so he stares at the sky most nights. He was bound to pick _some_ of the names of the constellations up…"

I grinned. "Cool! What's that one?" I asked, pointing to one that was pulsating brightly.

Gaara stared at me. "That's the North Star, Andi…"

I blinked. "I'm an idiot…aren't I?" I asked.

Gaara chuckled. "Yeah, well, that is one of the most well known stars…"

I shrugged. "Astronomy was never my strong point. What's that?"

"That's part of the Big Dipper," Gaara stated.

I facepalmed. "I suck at this…"

Gaara grabbed my arm again. "It's also known as the Ursa Major, and that's the Little Dipper or Ursa Minor, and there are the Seven Sisters. But sometimes there are only six visible, because two of the stars are so close together," he said, pointing them all out for me.

I smiled and stared up at the stars in awe. It's hard to see stars where I live, so seeing all of them like this is a real treat.

"What's that big one right there?" Kankuro asked.

"That's the moon, Kankuro," I said with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes and flicked my forehead. "Smart ass."

"Dumb ass," I countered.

"I wasn't even talking about the _moon_! I meant _that_ star!" Kankuro said, pointing and shaking his arm to emphasize his point.

"Relax, Kanky," I laughed. "I was joking!"

He grinned and we continued listening to Gaara tell us the different constellations.

I groaned and slammed my head into my pillow before turning and being scared senseless as bright, seafoam green eyes stared into mine.

Then I laughed at my own stupidity. "Hey, Gaara. Is Kankuro's snoring keeping you awake too?" I asked him.

Gaara smiled slightly and shook his head before sitting up and hugging his knees to his chest. I sat up and folded my legs pretzel style.

"Then why are you awake?" I asked.

"I have insomnia," he replied. "I'm normally up this late."

I frowned. "That sucks…"

He just shrugged. "I'm used to it."

I winced as Kankuro snored particularly loudly. I considered slamming my fist into his stomach, but settled on a better idea. I turned to Gaara. "Lie back down," I whispered, a smirk forming on my face.

"Why?" he asked, clearly confused.

"Just do it, and pretend to be asleep…" I said.

He sighed but complied, laying down and closing his eyes, though not before rolling them at me.

Ignoring that, I quietly crept over to Choji's sleeping area and grabbed a handful of marshmallows before creeping back.

Gaara cracked his eyes open as I settled into my sleeping bag and stared at Kankuro, waiting for his mouth to open when he inhaled again.

As soon as he did, I shoved the handful of marshmallows into his mouth before quickly lying back down, pulling the sleeping bag up to my face to hide my smiling face, and closing my eyes, feigning sleep.

Gaara snorted and pulled his sleeping bag up as well.

Kankuro made a choking sound and sat up with a start. "What the hell-?"

Chewing could be heard, and then he swallowed. "How in the hell did marshmallows get in my mouth…?"

I cracked one eye open, smirking at Gaara, who smirked right back before we both closed our eyes again.

"Squirt?" Kankuro asked. No response. "…Andi?" he asked, poking me hard in the small of my back.

I bit down on my lip to keep myself from laughing or making a sound.

Kankuro sighed. "…Weird…" he muttered, lying back down, slowly drifting back to sleep.

I opened my eyes and saw that Gaara had done the same, and we both shared another smirk. I winked at him once before closing my eyes and falling back asleep.


	11. Camp Konoha 10

**Chapter Ten**

"ANDI!" people yelled as they began pelting pillows at me.

"Holy freaking Jesus Christ what the hell is going on?" I exclaimed, sitting up in shock and attempting to block the barrage of pillows being chucked at me.

"Tenten's idea!" Choji said, slamming a pillow into my back.

"Ahh!" I yelped, diving into the bottom of my sleeping bag as just about _everyone_ whacked me with their pillows. "I'm innocent! Let me go!"

"Alright, alright, I think that's enough…" Tenten said, and the whacking ceased.

I timidly crawled out of my sleeping bag and looked around, making sure that they weren't bluffing. When I knew I was safe, I crawled out and let out a sigh of relief, soon turning to a scowl. "Why did you all ambush me with pillows?"

"Like Choji said, it was Tenten's idea," Kiba said, grinning and pointing at the smirking girl.

"You're impossible to wake up, Andi, in the cabin. You sleep in even later than Shikamaru, so I thought it would be fun for _all _of us to attack you with pillow!" she replied, grinning smugly.

"Oh you did, did you?" I asked her, carefully grabbing the edge of my pillow.

She nodded. "Yup!"

"Hmm…" I said, nodding. "Take this!" I yelled, jumping out of my sleeping bag and swinging my pillow at her, nailing her in the stomach.

She shrieked and then laughed, grabbing her pillow and hitting me back.

"Extreme Pillow Fight!" Naruto yelled, grabbing his own pillow and joining the throng of us pillow-fighters.

Zetsu chuckled and watched us in mild amusement, leaning calmly against a tree. Tobi was sitting on the ground at Zetsu's feet, clapping and cheering us on.

Eventually we became hungry, and decided to pack up and head back to get some brunch. Apparently only the oldest group of campers go on the campout, so all the younger kids had already eaten.

The cooks, Teuchi and Ayame, make a special brunch for all the campers who go on the campout, so we're all pretty excited.

"I'm gonna eat like thirty chocolate chip pancakes," Choji said. "And waffles too!"

"I just want a lot of bacon and sausages," Kiba said.

"I want an omelet," I said. "With tomatoes, peppers, onions, sausages, basil, cheese, bacon, and ham."

"Ooh that sounds good!" Naruto said. "But I'd be fine with just ramen!"

"…"

"What?" Naruto asked all of us as we stared at him in silence.

"You'd want _ramen_ over omelets and pancakes and bacon and the like?" Sasuke asked with one eyebrow raised in amusement.

Naruto shrugged before nodding wildly. "Yeah! Ramen is the best food in the world! And Teuchi-san and Ayame-chan make the _best_ ramen!"

"You are such a weirdo…" Sasuke said, shaking his head.

"Ten minutes," Shikamaru said, sliding a five dollar bill onto the table.

Ino shook her head. "No way. Fifteen minutes," she said, adding a five dollar bill to the slowly growing pile.

"Seventeen minutes!" Lee declared, also putting money in the pile.

I didn't have any money, so I just watched with interest.

"Here," Kankuro said, nudging me and handing me five dollars. "You can pay me back later. And if you win, we'll split it."

I grinned at him. "Thanks, Kankuro!" I exclaimed, before turning to face Choji. Before him was a plate with thirty chocolate chip pancakes on it. We were all placing bets, each of us wagering five dollars. We were betting how long it would take for him to eat the stack of pancakes, and Choji was drooling, waiting for us to finish betting so he could start eating.

"I'm gonna say…nineteen minutes," I said, tossing the money Kankuro had given me onto the table.

"I thought you didn't have money, Andi," Sakura said, looking at me.

"She had some in her shorts that she forgot about," Kankuro said, silencing me by kicking me swiftly under the table.

I bit my lip to prevent a squeak from escaping my lips and nodded. "Yeah. I forgot about it…"

"Twenty one minutes," Gaara said.

"Twenty one minutes," Neji , the last one to bet, said. "And one second."

"Ookiosewada," Gaara muttered, glaring and shaking his head slowly. Neji smirked. We were doing it so that the winner would be whoever was closest without going over, so Neji used the oldest trick in the book, and that pissed Gaara off.

"Ready…set…go!" Tenten exclaimed, starting the stopwatch.

"One more! One more! One more!" most of us chanted, watching in awe, or disgust, as Choji sliced and shoved the final pancake into his mouth.

"Nineteen minutes and ten seconds," Shino said, reading the notebook, skimming over the list. "The closest was Andi, with nineteen minutes even."

"Yes!" I cheered, jumping off of the bench and punching the air. "The pot of seventy dollars goes to me!" I said, pulling the pile of fives to me.

"Aw…that was what I was going to bet!" Sakura said.

"You bet before me, remember?" I asked her.

She shrugged but grinned, congratulating me.

"Good job, Andi," Hinata said, smiling at me before picking up her bag and heading out of the mess hall, followed by the rest of us.

"…I'm still hungry," Choji said, reaching for a plate of bacon.

"Come on, Choji, we need to go get ready," Shikamaru said, grabbing Choji's arm and dragging him out of the mess hall. "Ino will throw a fit if we don't."

"Ahem," Kankuro said, coming up behind me and tapping me on the shoulder.

"Oh, right," I said, looking furtively around, making sure no one was watching. I reached into my pocket and pulled the money out, giving thirty-five dollars to Kankuro and keeping thirty-five for myself. "Pleasure doing business with you, Kankuro."

He grinned and counted the money, nodding in satisfaction and walking away.

"Andi! Come on! We're going to the cabin now!" Tenten yelled.

"Okay!" I yelled, waving to Kankuro over my shoulder. "But…what about classes?"

Temari, coming out of nowhere as she usually does, slipped an arm around my shoulders and walked me toward the cluster of girls. "It's _that_ weekend. Classes are cancelled on Saturday and Sunday!"

"It's Saturday already? I don't feel like I've been here for a week…" I said, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Well, time flies when you're having fun at Camp Konoha!" Temari replied, pushing me toward the cabin, making me trip up the steps and fall face first onto the porch.

"…Ow. Thanks, Temari," I muttered, still face down on the ground.

"What happened to you?" Kurenai Sensei asked me, standing by my head and looking down.

"Temari is what happened," I groaned, pushing myself up off of the floor. "What do we need to do to get ready for whatever the weekend plan is?"

"Clean the cabin and get dressed nicely," Kurenai said, slapping me on the back and shoving me into the room.

"Dressed nicely? Why?" I asked, kicking my sneakers off and sending them under my bed.

"The dance!" Sakura said, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. "Remember? It's gonna be awesome! I'm going to wear the red dress that I bought! What about you?"

"Um…jean shorts and my seafoam green tank top…" I said, thinking over the clothes I brought and what would be the nicest to wear. "I didn't know that there would be a dance, so I didn't pack any dressy clothes…"

"You can borrow something of mine!" Ino said, tossing a skirt and shirt in my direction.

I tossed it back. "I'm shorter and flatter than you," I said. "I don't mind not looking dressy."

"She's got a point, you know," Sakura said. "Besides, half of the people there won't be dressed up either. She won't stand out…"

I, not sure how to respond, nodded and walked over to my bed to fix it from the other night. Everyone else was cleaning up, so I figured I'd join in too. I picked up all my dirty clothes and tossed them into the plastic bag in my wooden chest. I stuck my iPod in its charger and crawled under my bed, grabbing and tossing all the empty chip bags away.

"How did you go through two bags of Salt and Vinegar chips in less than seven days?" Ino asked, wrinkling her nose and holding one of the empty bags an arm's length away.

"They're delicious!" I said, taking the bag from her and tossing it back into the trash can. "And Kankuro and Gaara helped."

Ino sighed and shook her head. "Those chips are nasty. And…you get along too well with Kankuro and Gaara…"

I tilted my head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Sakura said, wanting to put her two cents in. "We've known them for years, and we're not all that close. And you come along and Gaara talks to you and listens to your music, and Kankuro jokes around with you and is really nice to you!"

I shrugged. "I'm in their group. They see me as Temari's replacement, so…"

Ino shook her head. "They didn't treat Temari like that," she said. "She was bossy to them, and they mostly avoided her, except for when it was time for activities and stuff…"

"Well then I don't know," I said, collapsing on my bed, messing it up again though I had just fixed it. "I'm new. I'm sure their interest in me will soon run out."

The girls eyed me in disbelief before getting back to cleaning.

An hour later, something heavy landed on my stomach and I awoke with a start. "What? What's going on?" I exclaimed, looking around frantically.

Tenten rolled her eyes and grinned, plucking the shampoo bottle off of my stomach. "Honestly, Andi…You fall asleep too easily… Anyway, Kurenai Sensei wanted me to let you know that it is our cabins turn to shower!"

"Praise be to God!" I exclaimed, jumping off of my bed and grabbing my shampoo and conditioner and body wash and a brush and a change of clothes and dashing out the door, skidding to a stop as I reached the edge of our porch. "Come on Tenten! I really don't feel like getting pelted with explosive clay again!"

Tenten laughed and walked over to me, carrying her stuff. "Alright, alright. I was left behind, since Ino and Sakura and Hinata and Kurenai Sensei all went over together…"

"Where do we get towels?" I asked, looking around as we made our way over to the bathroom.

"There are some in the bathroom. Now pick a shower and clean yourself. You smell like you rolled in poop and died…" Tenten said, eyes twinkling in amusement as she scrunched her nose teasingly.

"And you smell like Naruto after he drank spoiled milk with breakfast…" I replied in a sweet voice.

"Andi! I don't smell _that_ bad!" Tenten protested, laughing along with me.

Long story short – Naruto brought the final cup of his favorite milk to his cabin. And he left it there in the humid air for three days. And then he drank it at breakfast. He did _not_ smell good after _that_ little incident…

I waved to Tenten before jumping into one of the changing rooms and stripping down and undoing my braids. I ran a hand through my now-greasy hair and wrinkled my face in disgust. I wrapped one of the towels around myself and walked out of the changing room and into one of the showers.

I closed the shower curtain and pulled my towel off, hanging it on one of the hooks. I turned on the water at full power and hopped in, ready to sigh in relief.

"Gah!" I shrieked, jumping out and away from the freezing cold jet of water, yet remaining in the shower.

I heard girls snickering. "Happens to all the newbies…" Sakura said.

"Yeah…it never gets old though!" Ino agreed.

Tenten laughed before speaking up. "Andi, you need to twist the knob on the far left to get the hot water going…"

"Thanks," I said through chattering teeth. I'd have to go back under the water to reach the knob.

Taking a deep breath in preparation, I quickly went under the water and spun the knob, waiting for the water to heat up.

It didn't.

Instead, it got even colder.

"Holy freaking shit! Tenten! What the hell is going on?" I demanded, jumping away from the water yet again.

Tenten, Sakura and Ino just snickered.

Hinata sighed. "That was a trick. The knob on the _right_ heats the water up…" she said before scolding the other girls.

"_Thank you_, Hinata," I said, doing as she said and then sighing in relief as the water heated up. "I'll get _you three_ back later…" I muttered threateningly to the three giggling girls.

Never before had I so enjoyed a shower. At least, not since I had to play a muddy soccer game where it started snowing, and our goalie Ashley's fingers froze together… Now _that_ was a nice hot shower.

I scrubbed my scalp, using more shampoo and conditioner than I normally would to ensure that it would be completely clean. I soaped my body very vigorously as well. Three times.

I made sure to wash away all the dirt and grime, and ended up taking a twenty minute shower instead of my usual five minute shower.

By the time I got out, everyone was done except for Ino. But…she has _really_ long hair, and it takes forever to get tangles out of long hair…

I dried myself off completely before wrapping my towel around me and reentering the changing room. After getting my underwear and bra on, I pulled on a pair of my nicer jean shorts that cut off right above the knees. Then I pulled on my seafoam green tank top and bent over, drying my hair with my towel as well as I could. I slid my black flip flops on and strolled out of the changing room, all of my toiletries and dirty clothes in the plastic baggy Kurenai Sensei had given me.

"Oh, good," Hinata said, coming over to stand beside me. She was wearing a black skirt and a lilac, unbuttoned button-down sweater over a white cami. "Sakura and Tenten already returned to the cabin. Now we can go."

"What about Ino? She can't go alone…" I said.

"Oh, Kurenai Sensei is still showering too. They'll walk back together, since they'll both need buddies…" Hinata said.

"Oh…" I said with a nod. "Wait. Counselors can get clay pelted at them too if they're alone?"

Hinata nodded. "Yeah. Well, after you," she said, pulling open the bathroom door and letting me out.

"Aw… Andi! Where's_ your_ skirt?" Naruto asked as he and the rest of his cabin stood outside, either leaning against or sitting on the banister.

I shrugged. "I don't have one. Why?"

"Cause Sakura and even Tenten were wearing one, and so is Hinata. Girls _always_ wear skirts to the dance!" Naruto replied, hopping off of the banister and walking toward us.

"Lone camper!" Tobi shrieked from atop the roof.

"Yikes!" Naruto said, turning and heading back over to his cabin, followed by Hinata and myself.

"False alarm!" Tobi yelled.

"Tobi, you idiot!" Deidara growled. "Now where am I going to put this clay, un?"

"You could just-"

_BOOM!_

Tobi was cut off by the clay exploding over him and Deidara.

I snickered as Deidara began cussing Tobi out in Japanese before pushing him off of the roof, only to slip and fall off with him.

"Idiots…" Sasori muttered, walking past us with Itachi behind him.

"Yes," Itachi said with a nod. "But they do make the camp more…entertaining and amusing…"

Sasori smirked and nodded as the two continued making their way toward the barn.

"Andi! Hinata!" Sakura said, slamming the door to the cabin open.

"Huh?" I asked, pushing myself off of the banister and turning to face them.

"We're gonna fix your hair," Tenten said, holding up a brush, curling iron, straightener and hair spray. Upon closer inspection, I realized that her wrists were covered with hair ties.

"Eh? Oh, no, that's okay. I'll just wear it down and-"

I never finished my sentence, since Kurenai and Ino chose this time to walk out of the bathroom, grab both of my arms, and haul me into the cabin, followed by Hinata.

"Now…" Ino said, her and Sakura eyeing me as they tapped their chins. "What to do…"

There was a pounding on the door. We all looked up, each of us having something in their hair. I had my damp hair tied off in a messy bun, Ino having said something about it being a method to make your hair wavy. I also had my hat crammed down on my head, since it was cold from my hair being damp.

Ino and Sakura only allowed it since it didn't interfere with the bun.

Ino had curlers and Sakura did as well. Tenten's hair was down, reaching her shoulders, and straightened with the bottom of her hair flipping outward a little, and she had a little fringe on the left side of her face. Hinata's hair was curled like Ino's and Sakura's, and no one bothered with Kurenai Sensei's naturally curly and untamable hair.

"It smells _awful_ here! And I'll bet they only have outhouses. And did you _see_ that black and white man? And that foulmouthed man _must_ be an Albino. And then there's that shark man…I'll bet he was a lab reject or something!" we heard someone complain from outside the door.

I groaned. Mom.

"Mom…why do we have to be here? I was supposed to hang out with Annie and Chloe and Muñoz this weekend…"

Dorothy.

"Boys walk around _shirtless_ here? Maybe sending Andrea here was a bad idea…"

Angela.

"Open the freaking door!" someone yelled in a StrongBad voice.

I sat up in shock. "…Marian?"

The door was thrown open and there stood my older sister, Marian, smirking. "Hey Andrea. How's camp?"

"What are you guys doing here?" I exclaimed, stumbling off of my bed and over to my family.

"Family weekend," Marian stated. "Duh!"

I scratched my head through the hat. "I thought you guys weren't coming since Victoria had a soccer game… Where is she, by the way?"

"She's with dad, who's parking the car. Will is with them too," Marian said, leaning against the doorway.

I looked past her. "Where'd mom, Angela and Dorothy go? I heard their voices!"

"Oh, they're headed over to the mess hall or whatever, because they're starving. It's their fault for refusing to eat at McDonald's…" Marian said, rolling her eyes.

"McDonald's? Ew! No one should be forced to eat food from there!" Ino exclaimed, making a disgusted face.

Marian turned to stare at Ino in shock. "Who the hell are you, Prep?"

"Oh you did _not_ just call me Prep," Ino said, bobbing her head.

"Oh yes I just did," Marian said, imitating her tone of voice and head motions. "Whatcha gonna do about it, hmm?"

"I'll set Sasuke on you!" Ino exclaimed.

"Ooh! Sas-GAY! _Scary_…" Marian said mockingly.

"Don't make fun of Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Pink hair?" Marian asked, staring at Sakura before turning to look over at me. "Andrea, you hang out with these kinds of people?"

"They're not all that bad once you get to know them," I mumbled, staring at the floor.

"We will set Cabins A and B on you!" Ino said, snapping her fingers and acting _way_ more preppy than normal.

"Girl, I will _cut you_," Marian said, imitating the Bon Qui Qui's voice from MadTV.

I groaned.

"Ew! This place smells like dead animals and dirty lake water and – _hello_ Mr. Hottie!" Dorothy exclaimed quietly as she entered the cabin, peering out the window at Sasuke.

Sakura and Ino gasped. "Hey! Sasuke is _mine_," they said simultaneously before glaring at each other, Dorothy and Marian.

"Like he'd pick either of you over me," Dorothy said with a smirk.

"You're eleven," I said, rolling my eyes.

Dorothy, noticing me for the first time, spun around. "Whoa! You're tan…you look like a Mexican! And with that hat, you look like a guy Mexican. All you need is a greasy mustache…"

I sighed and shook my head, swiftly grabbing Hinata and dragging her out of the cabin.

"What are we doing?" Hinata asked me.

"Leaving the cabin. Sorry to drag you with me, but I don't feel like having my family see me get pelted with explosive clay," I said, marching over to the boys' cabin and joining Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, Neji and Kankuro on the porch.

Hinata blushed as she sat between me and the ever-oblivious Naruto.

"What are you doing over here, Squirt?" Kankuro asked me, tipping my hat up.

"Hiding from them," I said as my dad, William and Victoria entered the clearing.

Will's hands were in his pockets as he looked awkwardly around the campground. Victoria had her white DS Lite in her hands and was staring intently at the screen. Dad was looking around, in search for me.

"Andrea!" he yelled, walking quickly over to me. "What are you doing with _boys_?"

"It's a co-ed camp," I said. "And there are more boys than girls. Besides, Hinata here is a girl," I said, tilting my head to the right in said girl's direction.

Dad nodded. "Nice to meet you all," he said, not seeming to mean it. He turned his gaze to the guy on my left: Kankuro. "You," he said, pointing at him. "What is your relationship with my daughter?"

I mentally groaned and facepalmed; Dad was playing the part of over-protective father. He's like this with _any_ guy that isn't related to me…even the hockey guys, and I've known them since I was a Mini Mite at age five!

"Um…" Kankuro said, shooting me a sideways glance. "I'm in Andi's group, so we're friends I guess…"

"Andy? You're giving my daughter a _boy's_ name for a nickname?" Dad demanded.

"Not that kind of Andy. Andi, as in A-N-D-I…" I said.

"Well, Mr. Scully, sir, I call her Squirt too, and-" Kankuro began, but was cut off.

"What? You are a very rude young man," Dad said, glaring at Kankuro before turning his gaze over to Neji. "And you?"

"I am Neji Hyuuga, and I am part of Andrea's cabin family," Neji said, opting to use my real name to prevent dad from flipping at him too.

"Hmm," Dad said, nodding and then looking at Lee. "And you?"

"William!" Mom yelled, not giving Lee a chance to answer. She ran over to us with Angela in tow. "There you are! What took you so long?"

"Andi!" Kankuro hissed into my ear. "Why is your family here so early? They're not supposed to be here until one thirty! That's not for another half an hour!"

"Hell if I know!" I whispered back.

"It smells like nature out here!" Dorothy yelled, still arguing with Marian, Sakura, Ino and now Tenten.

"Well, we are out in nature," I said to her, escaping my dad.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Dorothy yelled.

"You're welcome, General Sarcasm!" I yelled back.

"Andrea, don't be rude," Angela said sternly.

"Ookiosewada," I muttered, remembering that Gaara had told me that it meant _up yours_.

"What?" Angela asked, turning her head to the side and bringing her ear closer to me.

"Nothing," I muttered, elbowing Kankuro to get him to stop laughing. "I was just muttering gibberish…"

"So…" William said, looking around. "How's camp?"

"Oh, you know…" I said, listening to the sounds of just about every family member arguing with one of my new friends.

"Swearing is a terrible thing to do!" Angela exclaimed to Hidan. "God would be very displeased!"

"Fuck your god! I believe in Jashin!" Hidan countered.

Where did Hidan come from?

"Sasuke is mine!" Ino and Sakura shrieked again.

"I am not," Sasuke muttered, though the girls ignored him.

"Yeah, right!" Dorothy yelled. "I'll get that boy to fall so hard for me, you won't even believe it!"

"So how long have you known my daughter?" Dad asked Naruto.

"Um, let's see…I met her on Sunday, so-" Naruto began.

"You've known her only a week and you're already hanging out with her like this?" Dad demanded.

"Well, you bond over swimming, soccer games, campouts-" Naruto was yet again cut off by my dad.

"Campouts? As in sleeping together under the stars?" Dad demanded.

Naruto shrunk back. "Well, yeah… But I wasn't in her group! The people sleeping next to her were Kankuro and Gaara!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing the two boys out, since Cabin A had joined us all outside about a minute ago.

"Gaara and Kankuro, eh?" Dad asked, marching away from Naruto and grabbing Kankuro by the upper arm and dragging him over to Gaara to yell at the both of them.

"Are you mentally ill?" Mom exclaimed to Tobi.

Tobi shook his head. "No ma'am. Tobi is perfectly healthy!"

"Tobi sounds like a total moron," Victoria muttered.

"Hey! Only I can make fun of Tobi! Un!" Deidara exclaimed.

"Who are you?" Mom asked.

"His girlfriend?" Victoria asked.

Deidara glared. Ooh boy were they in for it now…

"I! AM! A! GUY! UN!" Deidara bellowed to my mom and youngest sister.

"Geez, woman, you don't need to PMS at me!" Mom yelled.

"Oh heaven help her…" I muttered as Deidara whipped out some of his special clay. I turned away from the scene to see my younger brother in a fist fight with someone.

That in itself was odd, since William is not a violent person. The odd part was that Dorothy, having given up her argument against Ino, Sakura, Tenten and Ino, was watching with a smirk.

"Don't you ever say stuff like that to my little sister!" William growled, punching the boy from Oto in the nose. "Pervert!"

"She liked it though!" the guy said, tackling Will to the ground.

"She's eleven!"

"And I'm fourteen!" the boy countered.

"Guys!" I yelled, grabbing the kid by the back of the shirt and hoisting him off of the bloodied William. "What the hell is going on?"

"He asked Dorothy if she wants him to butter her muffin!" William exclaimed.

"Bastard!" I yelled to the boy, trying to punch him but missing since he ducked.

"Sheesh! Sorry, Andi," the boy said. "I won't do it again. Just keep your crazy brother away from me!"

"Stay. Away. From my. Sister," I stated, glaring at him.

Oh great. Now _I _was playing the role of the over-protective family member.

I turned away and started walking.

"But, hey, she came onto me," the boy said.

I spun around swiftly and my fist met the boy's jaw, lifting him slightly off of the ground and knocking him to the floor.

I turned to William. "You, go over to mom and dad. Thanks for fighting him, but get me next time," I said.

William nodded and went over to our parents… Well, dad anyway. Mom and Victoria were currently running for their lives, since they found out firsthand that the clay was explosive.

"And _you_," I said, turning to the still-smirking Dorothy. "You do that again and I will tell mom and dad all about your secret boyfriends."

Dorothy glared and stared at the ground. A low-blow, I know, but she was gonna get herself hurt.

I never told my parents about her boyfriends, because as much as we don't get along, she _is_ my sister, and I guess it's kind of a sister thing to keep each other's secrets…

"Jashin will fucking kill your god!"

"_Your_ god doesn't exist!"

"I will fucking sacrifice you, woman!"

"You stay away from my daughter, or I'll-!"

"I'm a guy un!"

"You're just a stupid prep!"

"Well you're just a fat, stupid tomboy!"

I sighed and banged my head against the cabin. Boy oh boy was family weekend going to be fun…

The argument ended about an hour and a half later, and by then, my _entire _cabin and blood-related family were dragged into it. And so were my cabin family's families! And then Matsuri got mad at dad for insulting Gaara, and Udon, Moegi and Konohamaru got mad at Marian for yelling at Naruto, since Naruto had defended Sakura while she was arguing with them, and – oh gods…it was crazy.

Mrs. Inuzuka is _scary_ when angry, especially when she's arguing with my dad. And so was Mr. Sabaku and the Uchihas. Mrs. Uchiha and my mom began arguing, so Itachi got dragged into it, dragging the rest of the Akatsuki members not already involved into it.

Sasori was accused of being totally stoned, and Zetsu of being a freak of nature. Kakuzu and Kisame were insulted thoroughly, and Konan and Pein were scolded by Angela for their piercings.

Then Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune, Kotetsu and Izumo came along and forcefully removed my family from the throng and sent them to a guest cabin to get situated and ready for the dinner and dance.

_Clearly_ my family and Camp Konoha do _not_ mix!

Dinner was filled with tension so thick, you could cut it with a knife…provided the knife was actually a Samurai sword, since no knife could cut through anything _that_ thick!

Any boy that so much as spoke to me, asking for me to pass them a napkin or something, received a death glare from my father, who in turn received a glare from the person's parents.

I escaped the dinner table, begging Temari to let me sit with her and the other Counselors-in-Training. She obliged, mainly since she felt bad for me.

After dinner, we had half an hour to finish any preparations for the dance. The families went to their provided guest cabins, and us campers went to our cabins.

Before entering the cabin, I braced myself for the yelling that would surely occur.

"Your mom is crazy!" "I thought your dad was going to kill someone!" "Your little sister is kind of a slut!" "How do you live with people like that?" "Thank _god_ they don't have to sleep in our cabin tonight!"

Most of the yelling was done by Ino and Sakura, but Tenten got a comment or two in as well.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" I groaned, clutching my aching head in my hands. "I know they're a hassle. Just be grateful that they're only here for a day and a half!"

Ino _hmph_ed. "I'd prefer it if they were never here at all!"

Tenten rolled her eyes. "You're just mad that that one girl, who isn't as skinny as you had more guys drooling over her than you," she said. "But I agree. I don't really like them too much either…"

"Oh, please! They were only drooling over that fatty because she has giant boobs!" Ino said.

I rolled my eyes and pulled my hat off, tossing it onto my bed and undoing my bun. Marian was not thin, or average. She was actually overweight, but guys liked her anyway for her personality and rather large breasts. They were actually about the same size as Tsunade's, but Marian's are real…

I shook my head, loosening my now-wavy hair before catching the mousse that Sakura tossed me. I read the instructions and squirt some of the foamy stuff into my hand and tousled it through my hair. The mousse would supposedly keep my hair wavy for the rest of the evening, but my hair has always been difficult, never listening to me and staying as I set it.

But, perhaps this will be a miracle hair product and actually work on me…

"Guys…they weren't _that_ bad…" Hinata said quietly, twirling a curl around her finger as she made her way over to me. She began running a brush through my brown hair, tossing it a bit to keep the waves from getting limp. "Angela seemed nice…"

Sakura scoffed. "She was a freak! I mean, who in their right mind gets into an argument with _Hidan-san _over _religion_? That's as bad as calling Deidara Senpai a girl…if not worse!" she exclaimed, shaking her head as she let her final curl free.

"Guys, let's just _not_ talk about my family," I said, nodding at Hinata in thanks as she finished brushing my hair. "Let's just suck it up and bear it, hmm?"

"Fine…" they all muttered, some more grudgingly than others.

"Sasuke! Want to dance?" Ino asked Sasuke hopefully.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head. "Sorry. I don't really dance."

"Don't they have dance classes at Oto High?" Naruto asked, only to be elbowed in the gut by Sasuke.

"Sasuke, is it?" Dorothy asked, walking up to Sasuke in a short skirt and tight cami. The parents weren't invited to the dance, and Angela and William and Victoria chose not to go, so she could dress however the hell she wanted without our parents finding out…unless me or Marian ratted her out.

"Hn? You're Andi's little sister, right?" Sasuke asked, sparing Dorothy a bored glance.

Dorothy scowled. "Sister, yes. _Little_ sister, no. I'm just as mature as Andrea!"

Sasuke sighed. "That's nice. See ya," he said, pushing himself off of the table he was leaning against and making his way over to me, Gaara, Lee and the other wallflowers.

"Hey, Sasuke," I said boredly, licking the frosting off of a cupcake. "I bet you just _love_ Dorothy, don't you?"

Sasuke scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. Everyone keeps asking me to dance, and I just can't seem to avoid anyone," he said, sitting down across from me.

"So dance with someone, genius," I said, rolling my eyes. "So, if your fangirls see you're busy, they _just might_ leave you alone…"

Sasuke contemplated this. "I don't know… Some girls might get the wrong idea if I dance with them…"

"So ask someone who _isn't_ interested in you…like Hinata or Tenten!" I suggested.

"If you dance with my cousin," Neji said. "I will hurt you."

"…Okay…Tenten then!" I said.

Neji glared. He was very protective of Tenten too… She was like a sister to him, after all.

"…Okay then…" I said, casting Neji a sideways glance. "New plan!"

"You're not interested in me, right?" Sasuke asked me, now looking curiously at me.

I shook my head and grinned. "Nope!"

"Perfect," Sasuke said, standing up and grabbing my wrist. "Dance with me?"

"Oh!" I said, surprised. "Well, um, ah…I really don't dance. Like, at all, and-" I was cut off by a loud, high-pitched screeching sound, followed by silence.

"…What just happened?" a bunch of people demanded.

"The sound box just died out! Now we don't have any music!"Tobi, the DJ, said.

"Do you know how expensive it'll be to fix that?" Kakuzu demanded.

"Now what will we do?" a girl asked. "Without music, how can we dance?" she asked, eyeing Sasuke with interest.

"Andi's iPod," Gaara said, reaching into my pocket and pulling my iPod out. "She has plenty of music. Just hook it up to an iHome."

"Gaara!" I exclaimed, trying to get my iPod back from him, but to no avail. Deidara plucked the iPod from Gaara and hooked it up.

"What should we listen to, un?" he asked, scrolling through my songs.

"I'll pick!" Matsuri said, bumping Deidara away and scrolling. Her jaw dropped. "Andi! You have _…Baby One More Time_ on your iPod?" she exclaimed. "You _soo _do not seem like the kind of girl to listen to Britney Spears…"

"Oh, well…" I said, blushing as a lot of the people turned to stare at me.

"Let's listen to it!" Matsuri said, pushing play with a smug grin, clearly enjoying the shocked/disgusted look Gaara was giving me.

Boy was everyone surprised when _August Burns Red_ came blasting out of the speakers.

Ino clapped her hands over her ears. "What is _this_?" she demanded.

"_August Burns Red_," I said. "From the Punk Goes Pop Vol. 2."

Gaara sighed in relief. "You know, for a minute there, I _really_ thought that you liked that kind of garbage…"

I laughed. "Never."

Marian collapsed on a chair beside me, pushing Lee away. She sighed. "Damn it, Andrea…Where are all the hot guys that are _my _age or older?"

I pointed to the Akatsuki. Her eyebrows raised as her gaze landed on Itachi. "Wow. He is _hot_."

I shook my head, not really agreeing with her. While he was good looking, he definitely wasn't nearly as hot as Deidara or Sasori…

"That's my older brother," Sasuke said boredly.

Marian. "Hmm. I'm gonna go get to know him," she said, getting up and making her way over to him to talk to him.

"Are all your sisters such flirts?" Tenten asked me, taking a break from dancing and sipping on punch.

I started to shake my head, but then changed it to a nod. "Yeah, actually. All of them but Angela. And Will is pretty awkward around girls too. Why?"

"You're just not a flirt at _all_, and they are _huge_ flirts!" Tenten said with a laugh.

"Never mind the flirting," Ino said, having overheard the conversation and abandoning her dance partner for us. "You think that the Akatsuki guys are hot!"

I shrugged. "Who wouldn't think that? Yeah, they're hot, I admit it. It doesn't mean anything though. It's not like I like them," I said, taking and eating a cookie.

Lee, having reclaimed his seat, nodded. "That is true. One may find someone attractive with_out_ having romantic feelings for them!"

I smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Lee!"

"How do you go from screamo music to _Cash Cash _and _Hey Monday_?" Sakura demanded after the dance as we were walking back to our cabin. "I mean, they have _no_ similarities!"

"I like a wide variety of music," I said with a shrug. "No big deal."

"Andrea!" I heard a man yell. I groaned when I realized that it was my dad. "How was the dance?"

"It was fine, dad," I said, turning to face him, causing Kiba to practically crash into me. "Why?"

He shrugged and turned to glare at Kiba, Kankuro, Gaara and Sasuke, the four guys closest to me. "Did you dance with my daughter?" he asked threateningly.

"No," Gaara said. "Andrea doesn't dance."

I nodded. "Yup. Well, good night dad. We have a busy day tomorrow, so…see you in the morning!" I said, pushing the guys so they would start moving.

My dad was giving them so fierce a death glare that I was starting to worry that just maybe looks _could_ kill…


	12. Camp Konoha 11

**Chapter Eleven**

"Andi!" Tenten yelled, slamming a pillow onto the bulge beneath the sheets of my bed.

I snickered, staring into the cabin from outside. I had woken up about half an hour ago, thanks to my wonderful older sister who dumped a bucket of ice cold water on me.

Surprisingly, my yelp of shock and her loud laughter didn't wake the rest of my cabin up, so I got out of bed and got dressed, since I obviously wouldn't be able to go back to sleep if my bed was soaking wet.

So, at like six thirty-five, I left my cabin and decided to wander around with Marian and show her all the different places where I had classes.

I showed her Deidara's cabin by the pond, and then Sasori's, and that's about as far as we got. Why? Well, I told her a bit about the never-ending Sasori/Deidara war, so, naturally, she wanted in. So we woke up a rather cranky Sasori, and I introduced Marian to him.

They hit it off right away, since Marian is notorious for coming up with evil plans to annoy the hell out of someone. I would know. A few years ago, I was her favorite victim. Dumping water on me was nothing.

She's rigged traps up in my room in my sleep, set to go off as soon as my alarm clock did. I've woken up to syrup, feathers, shaving cream, fake spiders, and a very small-scale bomb made from vinegar and other kitchen supplies…numerous times.

Anyway, after saying my goodbyes to Marian and Sasori, I made my way back to the cabin, where I was pulled aside by Deidara, who saw me talking with Sasori.

Naturally, he was suspicious, but I just shrugged it off. Then he realized that I was a lone camper, so he decided that he was going to chuck explosive clay at me…

"_D-Deidara Senpai!" I stuttered. "Please don't!"_

_Deidara hesitated. "Alright, I'll escort you safely to your cabin on one condition, un," he said, eyeing me._

_I swallowed. "And…what would that condition be?"_

_He smirked. "You're gonna help me rig up my greatest piece of art yet that I've been working on for Sasori no Danna. Un," he said, chuckling a bit at the end._

_I bit my lip, thinking it over. I was cheering for Sasori in their war, but that was mainly because Deidra had chucked explosive clay on one of my first days here._

_But I realized that he wasn't all that bad; he was actually pretty fun!_

_So I nodded and he led me to his cabin, where I saw Tobi molding a ton of clay into little balls that looked like mines. In the far corner was a dragon about the size of a large dog that was still in the process of making. My jaw dropped at Deidara's artistic talent, and he smirked proudly. _

"_Help Tobi make more land mines, un," he said, pointing to a spot on the floor. _

_Tobi grinned up at me and patted the ground beside him, gesturing for me to sit. And so I did, and I learned how to mold clay like an expert. …Well, maybe not an __**expert**__, but I was pretty good._

And so, after about twenty minutes, Deidara and Tobi escorted me to my cabin, where I met up with Temari who was just coming out of the counselor-in-training cabin. We talked for a bite before we heard Tenten yell my name and watched her smack my bed with a pillow.

"Goooood morning guys," I said, peering into the cabin, Temari smirking right behind me.

Tenten's jaw dropped. "Andi? You're awake and ready?"

I just smiled smugly and nodded, resting my chin on the windowsill. "Yup. I was beginning to wonder if you lazy-bones were ever planning on waking up!" I said, enjoying the shocked expressions etched on each of their faces.

"ANDREA!" someone yelled, running into me and grabbing me around my waist. I craned my neck and looked down to see my sister, Victoria, clutching me tightly and trembling.

"Um…what?" I asked bluntly.

"Ch-ch-chicken!" she stammered, pointing over her shoulder.

There stood Kakuzu, wielding a squawking chicken that was pointing right at Victoria. "For the last time, little girl! Do _not_ call me stitches and stop trying to steal the chicks and bunnies! And _stop_ throwing pokéballs at them! You sent one of the bunnies into shock, and it died. You _broke_ the fence! Do you know how expensive that will be to fix?" he bellowed, his anger slowly rising. The chicken, Bockahontas, I think, clucked defiantly.

I turned around, hiding Victoria behind me. I kind of forgot that Kakuzu was even scarier than Hidan when he lost his temper.

"Um…Kakuzu-san, my sister is very, very sorry, and, uh…" I trailed off.

"If I'm gonna be a Pokémon master, I need to catch 'em all!" Victoria exclaimed, jumping in front of me with her hands on her hips.

Temari snorted and I sighed. "Victoria. You're nine years old. Pokémon….aren't…real!" I said, grabbing her shoulders from behind and shaking her.

"Dream crasher!" Victoria yelled, running away. Kakuzu got ready to take off, but Temari put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kakuzu Senpai," she said. "We can get her back during the battle later today."

I was confused about two things. One, why had Temari called Kakuzu _Senpai_? And two, what battle?

Kakuzu sighed and tucked his chicken under his arm. "Fine. But the bunnies will be _ruthless_ I say. Ruthless!" he growled before stomping away.

I stared after Kakuzu. For some reason, I had a sneaking suspicion that this would _not_ be a normal day at Camp Konoha, not even by Camp Konoha standards.

"Uh…Temari?" I said, turning to the still smirking girl. "Why do you call Kakuzu-san _Senpai_ and what is this battle you're talking about? And…should I be concerned for Kakuzu-san's mental stability?"

Temari laughed, but it wasn't a condescending laugh. It was a laugh that expressed that she thought what I said was truly funny.

I frowned. "Temari, this isn't a laughing matter…" I said, hands on my hips.

She snorted once more before calming down. "Okay, okay. Kakuzu Senpai is one of the senior counselors who are training me. No, don't worry about Kakuzu…if anyone, worry about Tobi's mental stability. And finally…the battle. The battle is an ancient Camp Konoha tradition," she said, sighing dreamily and leaning against the cabin.

"Counselors and campers versus the families. Anything goes, provided we don't show off too much of our ninja skills, since no one, except some of the parents who attended here themselves, knows that we're ninjas-in-training," Temari said, smirking. "I remember one year, when Hidan was in charge of corral, Tobi, still a camper at the time, _borrowed_ a llama and rode it onto the battle field, wielding a long stick…"

She smirked and chuckled slightly, thinking about it.

I laughed. I could so see Tobi doing that. Then I stopped laughing. "Battle…between us…and the _families_?"

"So…let me get this straight, Senpai," I said to Deidara. I was in his cabin again, helping him with the finishing touches to his clay. I was done with my portion, and was just leaning against the wall, my arms crossed and my foot propped up.

Since the families were here, classes were cancelled and everyone was preparing for the _epic battle_, as Naruto so nicely put it. So after breakfast, Tobi and Deidara dragged me off.

"You need _me_ to distract Sasori no Danna long enough for you to set this trap thing at the fishing grounds?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Deidara nodded. "Un," he said, not looking away from his clay dragon.

Taking that as a yes, I pushed on. "Why me though? And what will this clay do?"

Deidara paused and turned to face me. "Because Danna really hates your family. No offense, but we all kinda do after those insults, but anyway… Have your mom or something annoy him, and then she can lure him to the clearing, un," Deidara said.

I nodded. "That shouldn't be too hard to accomplish…" I said. "But what is the clay gonna do?"

"BOOM!" Tobi exclaimed, grinning up at me, his visible chocolate brown eye sparkling.

My eyebrows went to my hairline. "So…this is all gonna explode like your regular, C1 clay?" I asked. "I thought that this was just your regular clay."

See, Deidara had explained his different clays to me, and their explosive scales.

Deidara shook his head. "No, Squirt. It's gonna be _bigger_. _This_! Is C2! Un!"

My jaw dropped. "B-but! That's a huge blast!" I exclaimed. "And what if my mom gets hit?"

Deidara shrugged. "Two birds with one stone. Or, rather," he smirked. "Two annoyances with one dragon… Un."

As much as my mother and I disliked each other, I did not want her being near explosives.

"I was saving this for Itachi," Deidara said, adding a scale to the dragon's back. "But…Danna and your mother will suffice. After all, what better way to start the battle than with a bang, un?"

I sighed. This was gonna be crazy.

I was outside by the cleaner pond, eating lunch with Kankuro, Kiba, Gaara, Temari and Hinata. We were allowed to eat wherever we wanted, so we chose front row seats to the Sasori/Deidara war. The two were currently chucking explosives and chum at each other from their canoes, occasionally whacking the other with their oars.

I picked up my kool-aid and took a sip as Kiba turned around.

"Jiraiya is on Tsunade!" Kiba exclaimed.

I choked and spat my drink out at the same time as Kankuro, who was across from me, resulting in the two of us getting soaked with each other's kool-aid.

"What?" we exclaimed, standing up and wiping our faces. "That's sick!"

Kiba stared at us for a moment before snorting in laughter. "Not like that! Tsunade as in the horse Tsunade! …You, Andi, are a pervert."

I blushed and smacked his arm. "Am not! The way you said it threw me off!"

Kiba laughed and poked my cheek. "Pervert."

"Kiba! Knock it off! Besides, Kankuro thought so too," I said, crossing my arms and sitting back down on the grass.

Kankuro smirked. "Yeah, but we've already established that I'm a pervert."

I rolled my eyes at him, smirking slightly back at him.

"Ow!" he yelped as Temari pushed his head down.

"You're a bad influence on Andi," Temari said, rubbing her knuckles into Kankuro's skull while the rest of us watched in amusement, concern or disinterest. "Remember how innocent she was when she first came here?"

"Temari, that really hurts," Kankuro muttered, trying to push his older sister away and failing miserably.

I laughed and patted Temari on the arm. "Come on, Temari. Leave him alone. It's not his fault," I said. "I was always like this, just not as outspoken."

Kankuro opened his mouth to say something to Temari, but was cut off by the sound of a…conch shell?

We all turned to face the source of the sound, and there stood Tobi. Well…there _sat_ Tobi. Atop a Yo-Mama the llama. Wielding a stick and a conch shell. With Joe-llama and Bo-llama behind him.

"What in the hell-?" I asked.

Temari and Kankuro and Kiba just grinned. "Ah, good ol' Tobi…bringing his llama tradition back," Temari said, waving to Tobi.

Tobi grinned and waved back. "Attention everybody! Come here so we can discuss the battle!" he yelled.

Within five minutes, everyone was there. I looked around and saw scared people, nervous people, confused people and smirking people. Nearly all my friends were smirking…even Gaara and Shino! The only non-smirker was Hinata, who looked nervous. I was with her.

I wasn't nervous about the battle, per say. I was nervous about the woman glaring at me from across the clearing, who had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot sternly; my mother.

"Alright," Tsunade the human said, standing beside the mounted Tobi. "Every year, during this particular two week session, we have a battle between the families and the campers. Families, some of you may have noticed the large sacks," – at this point, Kankuro, Kiba and I began snickering, only to be smacked upside the head by Temari, Sakura and Tenten, respectively – "that are filled with water balloons, silly string guns, big balls," – we snickered and got hit again – "and other minor weapons that you can use however you please."

"There is no real point to the game. Namikaze Minato came up with it years ago so he could make some use of the assorted items Kushina brought with her," Tsunade said, and Naruto smiled proudly for some reason.

"Just…go wild," Tsunade said with a shrug. "Just…don't send anyone to the hospital. Start when I say go."

She patted Tobi on the head and walked off of the field and joined Jiraiya, who was sitting on the horse, named Tsunade, and hopped up onto the saddle with him. They rode a safe distance away, and Tsunade shouted, "GO!"

At her yell, several counselors, mainly Akatsuki guys, let loose a battle cry and surged forward toward the families.

Most were prepared, but mine and the rest of the first years' families were not, so they made a mess of trying to escape, resulting in many trips and wipeouts.

"Andrea," my mother snarled, grabbing me by the ear and pulling me away.

"Ow ow ow ow!" I yelped, trying to bat her hand away, but to no avail.

"What is this _battle_ they're talking about? Why didn't you tell me before?" mom hissed.

"I didn't know until earlier today!" I protested. "Please let go of my ear!"

Mom let out a frustrated sigh and released me before stomping off, only to bump into the surprisingly hard chest of Sasori no Danna.

"Out of my way, Stoner!" Mom yelled, trying to push him.

Sasori glared, and mom shrunk back…so did I. Sasori no Danna, normally emotionless, has a very scary, threatening glare.

"Mom, run to the fishing dock," I whispered loud enough for only her to hear.

She didn't even thank me. She just turned, pushed me out of the way, and ran, followed by Sasori, who had somehow climbed atop Billy Bob the bearded goat.

Turning to my left, I saw a smirking and waving Hidan, holding Billy Bob's leash in one hand.

"The bitch deserves a headbutt to her ass," Hidan shrugged, tossing me the leash. "I take it you're on Deidara's side?"

I shrugged and nodded. "Yep. You?"

_BOOM!_

"DEIDARA, YOU BRAT!"

We both snickered a little before Hidan spoke up.

"I couldn't give a flying fuck about who wins," he said, rolling his eyes. "But it's fun watching them beat the shit out of each other."

I laughed and nodded. "Yeah, them and Tobi can brighten anyone's day with their antis."

Hidan scoffed and shook his head. "Tobi? He annoys the hell out of me!"

"Seek your revenge, bunnies!" we heard Kakuzu yell, pointing in the direction of a cluster of little, non-camper kids. The bunnies made bunny sounds and charged, well, hopped, in the direction Kakuzu was pointing.

"…What is wrong with Kakuzu?" I asked Hidan, noting the dark-skinned man laughing maniacally.

"Itachi gave him Tobi's medicine for fun," Hidan said, smirking at Kakuzu's out-of-character-ness. "Tobi has ADHD, and the medicine helps him, believe it or not. But if you mix it with a little bit of Konan's medicine, the result is reversed."

I laughed. "Which brings us to the insane, maniac Kakuzu, right?" I asked.

Hidan smirked and nodded. "You got it, sucker. Now come on. Kisame has something planned and needs help. You in?"

I nodded. After all, I had no idea what to do, so I might as well stick with a seasoned warrior, right?

"Ready the catapult!" Kisame yelled as a few other campers and counselors and I grabbed handfuls of water balloons.

"How did you build this, Kisame-san?" I asked, putting four water balloons into the catapult.

Kisame grinned a toothy grin. "I didn't build it. Sasori did, with the help of Kankuro!"

I turned to Kankuro, my jaw dropped in amazement and awe.

Kankuro smirked. "Now, now. Hold your applause, Squirt. I'll be signing autographs later," he said with a wave of his hand, his smirk never faltering.

I laughed. "Full of yourself much?" I asked, dropping and bursting a water balloon over his head.

He gasped in surprise before shaking his head, shooting water droplets at those nearest to him, myself included. "I can't help it that I'm awesome," he shrugged, smirk back in place.

"I see them," Zetsu said from his post at the top of a tree. **"Foolish, unsuspecting family members…water balloons shall rain down on you! **Poor kids that are stuck with them though. **It's their own fault for following their parents!"**

Choosing to ignore Zetsu's conversation with himself, I continued filling up water balloons with a twelve year old named Kevin.

"Would you like to do the honors, Kirsty?" Kisame asked a first year, ten year old girl, pointing to the button on the catapult. She looked up at Kisame in awe and nodded, and he led her over to the catapult.

"We clear, Zetsu?" Kisame yelled up to the dual-skinned man.

"Yeah. **Let her rip! Let's bury those suckers in water balloons!" **he yelled down.

Kisame laughed and stepped aside. "Go for it, Kirsty."

"Awesome!" she gushed. She reached out and pushed the wooden button, and jumped back in alarm as the large catapult let loose a plethora of water balloons.

"Ahh!" "Freezing cold!"

"Gah! This water is so wet!"

I giggled. That last comment was made by my younger brother William, ever the comedic smartass.

"Hey, Kisame," a dark-haired woman said, coming out of nowhere.

"Oh, hey Kurotsuchi," Kisame said, waving to her.

"You seen Deidara-nii?" she asked, leaning against the catapult as we continued loading water balloons.

"WE'RE SORRY, SASORI NO DANNA!"

At Deidara's and Tobi's yell, we all turned to see Deidara on Joe-llama and Tobi on Yo-Mama and the rider-less Bo-llama being chased by the grumpy Sasori who was atop Billy Bob and followed by Kakuzu and the chattering bunnies.

The woman, Kurotsuchi, smiled and laughed before waving to Kisame and running towards the mob of people and animals. She jumped onto Bo-llama and cuffed Deidara in the arm as they rode away with Sasori, Kakuzu and the others in hot pursuit.

"Who was that?" I asked, referring to Kurotsuchi. "And why did she call Deidara Senpai _nii_?"

"Oh, Kurotsuchi is like a little sister to Deidara. They grew up together. She called him _nii_, because it means older brother," Kisame explained, patting my head. "We really need to get you to learn Japanese."

"Shinken ni, Sqirt. Anata ga manabanakereba naranai," Kankuro said with a smirk.

"Grr! Speak a language I can understand, would you?" I asked.

"Hmm…" Kankuro mused, stroking his chin. "¿Es esto mejor?" he asked in Spanish.

I grinned. His accent was lousy and he said the words slowly, but I knew what he was saying. He seemed to struggle with the words, while his Japanese just flowed off of his tongue like honey.

"Sí, gracias! Así que usted puede hablar Japonés, Inglés y Español? Inteligente tipo ..." I said, speaking rapidly.

Kankuro stared at me and blinked. "Okay, I got that _yes, thanks_, but what was the rest of it?" he asked, scratching he back of his head.

I sighed. "I said…_So you can speak Japanese, English and Spanish? Smart guy…_" I translated for him.

He let out a breath of air. "Damn, you speak Spanish fast," he said.

"Yup," I said with a smug grin.

"Alright, alright, quit purpling and get back to filling up water balloons," Kisame said, pushing the small of our backs to get us to move toward the hoses.

"We weren't purpling!" I exclaimed, indignant.

"Yeah, seriously," Kankuro said. "I could do better than the Squirt here."

I rolled my eyes and _accidentally_ blew up a water balloon in his face, and _accidentally_ dropped another one down the back of his pants.

At about five o'clock, Tsunade blew a really loud, high-pitched whistle, signaling the end of our fun.

Tenten and I reluctantly put our paintball guns, which had been aimed at these teenage guys who were hitting on Hinata for having rather large breasts, and put them away. The guys visibly relaxed, and Tenten and I smirked at each other and bumped fists.

Naruto mustn't have heard the whistle, because he dumped actual paint on the four guys, yelling at them. "Do _not_ hit on Hinata like that you perverts!" he yelled. "Dattebayo!"

Now, I have no idea what _Dattebayo _means, but Naruto has been saying it none stop during the battle. Sakura says it's like an exclamation of some sort, and that Naruto says it all the time, but tries to cut back at camp, but it sometimes slips out in the heat of the moment.

"N-Naruto," Hinata stuttered, poking her fingers together and blushing. "Thank you…"

Naruto, after pummeling each of the guys in the stomach and knocking them over, despite them being about half a foot taller and broader than him, turned to Hinata and grinned. "Anytime -ttebayo!"

"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto…" Tsunade said, sighing and shaking her head. "What am I gonna do with you?" she mumbled, more to herself than anyone else.

She cleared her throat and lifted the megaphone to her lips. "Now, the battle is over. And I know there aren't any winners, per say, in this game…but if there were, it'd be us campers and counselors."

Said campers and counselors smirked, looking over the wet, bruised, painted, itching-power-covered family members.

Kankuro, struggling, accidentally elbowed Tenten in the back, who fell into Naruto who fell into Hinata who fell in front of me. I just stared at the pile of people on the ground and laughed.

"Jesus, Kankuro! What's the matter with you?" Tenten asked, pushing him off of her and getting back up.

"Nothing," he muttered bitterly, voice laced with venom. "Why do you ask?"

Tenten looked surprised that he had spoken cruelly to her like that. I just patted her on the shoulder.

"Don't mind Kankuro," I said. "He's just cranky because he's got his undies in a bunch."

Kankuro glared. "Because of _you_," he said, picking at his boxers and finally ridding himself of the major wedgie I had given him.

"You started it," I said offhandedly.

"Do I spy purplers?" Hidan asked, bending over so his face was between mine and Kankuro's.

"No," I stated flatly. "Since when does torturing the other count as flirting?"

"That's how I flirt," Hidan said with a shrug.

"That's because you're a sadistic, masochistic bastard," Kakuzu muttered, rubbing his temples. "Jeez this headache is killing me! …Why is there a bunny on my shoe?"

The medicinal concoction had worn off, and Kakuzu had absolutely no recollection of what had happened.

Heh. He'll never know!

…At least, not until Temari gets the photos developed and the video up on YouTube…

"See ya later, Andrea," Marian said, giving me a quick, tight hug.

After dinner, family weekend ended, so we were all saying our goodbyes to our families. ...Except Naruto. He was sitting on the swing hanging from the tree branch, just talking to Iruka.

"This camp is crazy. Are you sure you don't want to come home early?" Angela asked me.

I laughed. "No way! I love it here!"

Dorothy nodded and smiled at a passing boy. "Mhmm...I see why."

I just rolled my eyes and got her in a headlock and gave her a noogie. "I'm gonna miss you Dorothy," I cooed annoyingly.

The guy that she was checking out gave her a weird look before walking away. I smirked. Mission accomplished.

"Jesus, Andrea, don't do that!" Dorothy exclaimed, pushing me away.

"Bye, Andrea," Will said, nodding at me. I grinned and nodded back.

"I swear I'm gonna sue this camp! I will not have a transgender pyromaniac, a stoner, a foul-mouthed devil worshipper, a psychotic mental boy, and circus freaks teach Andrea their crazy ways!"

Ah...mom. Needless to say, she was pissed about the explosion.

No, she wasn't hurt at all. She just got the shock of her life.

"Marianella, we can't sue them. We signed a waiver, remember?" Dad said to my mom, trying to calm her down. "Besides, no one got hurt."

"Speak for yourself," Victoria muttered, nursing a bruised elbow.

That was her own fault though. She was playing her DS when she tripped over a log and landed wrong.

Granted, Konan had put that log there, but it's not like she pushed Victoria or anything!

"Well, we'll see you in a week, Andrea," Dad said, giving me a hug. As soon as he released me, he turned and face the guys nearest me and gave them a warning glare. They just chuckled nervously in response.

"Bye, Andrea," Mom said, patting me on the head.

I gave her a half smile and nodded in farewell. She turned and I let out a sigh of relief as I watched my family leave.

Note to self: keep family as far away from Camp Konoha related people as possible.

I waved as they drove off and relaxed when the car was out of sight.

"So, Andi..." Kankuro said, walking over with Gaara and Temari. "How'd you enjoy parent's weekend?"

...That boy was seriously asking for it.


	13. Camp Konoha 12

**Chapter Twelve**

A shrill, high-pitched whistle blasted seemingly next to my ear, rudely dragging all us sleeping girls from our slumber.

"Aughh!" we all shrieked, sitting up in bed, those on the bottom bunks whacking their head in the process.

"Alright you maggots!" Deidara yelled. "Get your lazy butts out of bed and over to the training field! Un!"

"Deidara Senpai!" we all screeched, scrambling and trying to cover our scantily clad selves.

What? It was _really _hot that night, so most of us ended up sleeping in boxer shorts and camis, some tighter than others.

"What are you doing in here?" Sakura demanded.

"Think, Sakura…" Deidara said, leaning casually against the doorway and swinging the whistle by its chord around his finger. "Remember the year before, when everyone was woken up in a similar fashion? Un?"

"Deidara, it's six AM and we aren't dressed. Out!" Kurenai yelled, throwing a shoe at the blond and hitting him square in the forehead.

"Ow! Jeez, Kurenai. It's not like I was taking a peek at you! Asuma would kill me, un!" Deidara muttered, rubbing his forehead, making the rest of us girls giggle while Kurenai grew red with embarrassment and rage.

Deidara smirked, knowing he hit a nerve, and winked at us.

Kurenai threw the other shoe at his head, bopping him in the nose. Deidara muttered curses and grabbed the door, shielding himself with it. "Squirt, come outside when you're done. Tobi will escort you, un."

Then he was gone, followed by a still-angry Kurenai, and all the girls turned to stare at me.

"Ooh! You're meeting up with Deidara Senpai!" Ino cooed, giggling.

I scowled. "What's with the giggles?"

"Andi," Sakura said, shaking her head. "You do know that purpling is forbidden, right?"

"Sakura, I have _no_ idea what you're talking about," I said honestly, rolling out of bed and rummaging through my clothes.

"Hmm," Tenten said, getting up as well. "Relationships with other campers is one thing, but relationships between a counselor and a camper…that's just terrible!"

I tripped over my own feet and slammed my forehead into the locker. "Ow! Anak ng puta!" I swore, using a few choice words in Tagalog that I picked up from my mother whenever she burnt herself in the kitchen. I shook my head, rubbing my face.

I pulled my bra on and then pulled my cami off, a skill I've mastered, and yanked my tank top on before whirling on the girls. "_What_ are you _talking_ about?"

"You and Deidara Senpai have a secret relationship!" Ino declared. "That's why you're always off talking to him, or missing in the early morning!"

"That happened, what? Twice? And we're _not_ in a secret relationship! What would make you think that?" I exclaimed, hopping around on one foot while I attempted to put shorts on.

The girls just shrugged.

"They have a point…Andi…" Hinata said, poking her fingers together. "You could get in a lot of trouble…"

"Guys! I am _not_ involved with Deidara Senpai!" I exclaimed.

"Whoa! You're involved with Deidara?" Temari asked, strolling into the cabin. "Mm…I'd have gone with Sasori, but not a bad choice, Squirt…"

I groaned and slid my socks and sneakers on before heading out of the cabin. They just wouldn't listen to reason.

"Hello, Andi-chan!" Tobi said, waving to me and grinning goofily. "Ready to go help Deidara Senpai?"

I nodded as I bent at the waist, gathering all my hair up and tying it on a ponytail a little above my neck. "Yup. More clay stuff?" I asked as I straightened up again and pushed some of the loose strands of my bangs out of my face.

I don't want bangs, really, but back in November, Marian and I were super bored during one of our home school sessions, and I _somehow_ managed to get a comb stuck in my hair. And we couldn't get it out. No matter _what_ we tried.

We tried baby oil, conditioner, water…you name it! But it was completely stuck, so we had to cut my hair to get it out. So on the left, front chunk of hair went to a little below my eyes, so to even it out, my sister chopped the other section off on my right side!

It took seven months, but now my bangs reach a little below my chin. Yeah, my hair grows surprisingly fast…

Anyway, now that I've explained my unwanted haircut, we can now get back to the story.

Tobi nodded. "Yeah. Deidara Senpai has more _evil genius plans_! …At least, that's what Senpai told me," he said as the two of us walked across the clearing toward the pond. "His plans tend to blow up in his face."

I snorted and started laughing. "Haha, good one, Tobi-san!"

Tobi grinned at me before pushing a branch out of the way, gesturing for me to go ahead. I grinned at him in thanks and walked on ahead, already knowing my way to Deidara's cabin by now.

"So, Andi-chan…" Tobi said, catching up to me after successfully snapping the tree branch on himself. "Do you like spending time with Deidara Senpai and Tobi?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you guys are fun. Besides, it's not like I have anything else to do at six in the morning…" I yawned. "Speaking of which, why were we all woken up an hour early?"

Tobi smiled briefly at me before returning his gaze ahead of us. "Every other year, during this two-week-session, we host this thing called the Chuunin Exams," he said. "It's a very special event, and we all get trained for it!"

"Chuunin Exams, eh? What are those?" I asked curiously.

"Well…" Tobi said, scratching his chin. "It's like a competition with kids from Elite Schools, open even to those who don't go to camp."

"What kind of competition? Like a soccer game, paintball war, what…?" I asked.

"Oh, um…it's a ninja competition," Tobi said with a shrug. "We use the skills we learned at camp and at school!"

"…Ninja…competition? But Tobi-san! I have, like, zero ninja skills!" I exclaimed, tugging at the bottom of my tank top.

Tobi chuckled and patted my head. "Don't worry, Andi-chan. The Exams aren't until Wednesday! We'll be training everyone all Monday and Tuesday!"

"I'm so screwed. I'm gonna get my assed kick by Elite Ninjas…" I muttered, shaking my head in despair.

"You'll be fine, Andi-chan. Oh! We're here!" Tobi exclaimed, grabbing my wrist and tugging me into Deidara's cabin. "Senpai! We're here!"

"Perfect timing. Hold this, Squirt. Un," he said, handing me a lump of clay before jumping onto his top bunk and rummaging through the stuff on top of it. Clearly the top bunk was meant for storage and not sleeping…

I glanced down at the figurine in my hand and brought it to my face to examine it more closely. It was a simple ball with markings that looked like stitching; a baseball. It was so finely detailed; I would've thought it was a real baseball if it hadn't had the texture and smell of clay.

"Um…Deidara Senpai? Why am I holding a clay baseball?" I asked, tossing it back and forth between both hands.

"It's my newest creation," Deidara said, sitting up and holding up a satchel of clay victoriously before clambering off of the bed. "You ever play baseball? Un?"

I shrugged and tossed the clay ball to an eager Tobi. "Yeah, back in grade school we played it during gym class. Why?"

"Because," he said, reaching behind a locker and pulling out three baseball bats. "We're gonna have some fun with Danna."

Within ten minutes, at about six twenty AM, Tobi, Deidara and I were standing at the edge of the dock, buckets of clay baseballs at our feet and baseball bats in our hands.

Sasori's cabin was about fifty feet away from the edge of the dock, making it an easy target.

"Rise and shine, Sasori no Danna!" Deidara yelled, tossing a clay ball up into the air before swinging his bat and meeting it midair, sending it flying toward Sasori's cabin.

_BOOM!_

Tobi and I flinched at the explosion and sound of breaking glass as the impact of the explosion broke Sasori's window.

An extremely tired and annoyed looking Sasori came running out of his cabin clad in nothing but boxers and black, rectangular glasses that he was just pulling on, his messy red hair even messier looking than usual since he had just woken up. "You little brat! What the hell are you doing?" Sasori demanded, standing at the edge of the dock on his side of the pond.

Deidara just snickered and turned to me and Tobi. "Fire away, un!"

Tobi and I smirked and nodded and also began sending clay baseballs flying Sasori's direction, sending him retreating back into his cabin.

"We win, Senpai! We win!" Tobi exclaimed, dancing with his baseball bat.

"Not yet…" Deidara murmured.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

As if on cue, Sasori came back out of his cabin, now wearing a shirt in addition to his boxers and glasses, dragging a large, wheeled box with him. He reached inside and pulled out wood with some purple substance on it and some of the dreaded chum.

"You'll pay for this, brat," he said quietly and threateningly, so quiet that we had to strain our ears to hear. Though I wish I didn't, since his threatening voice sent tingles of fear down my spine.

"Keep firing!" Deidara yelled, tossing his bat onto the dock and opting to chuck the baseballs at Sasori. Tobi and I nodded, doing likewise.

Sasori counterattacked by throwing his assortment of weapons at us.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed as the wood struck my bare arm. But it wasn't the wood that really hurt me.

The purple substance stung my arms, upper chest and neck, leaving small red welts. "Senpai! What is this?" I exclaimed, tugging on Deidara's jacket sleeve.

He spared me a glance and his eyes widened. "Shit! That's poison that Danna makes. It's not life-threatening, but wherever it hits will be stinging for a while…Un."

"Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!" I exclaimed, rubbing the welts. "This stings!"

Deidara and Tobi glared. "Why would you hit a girl, un?" Deidara demanded, chucking more clay.

"She shouldn't have gotten involved!" Sasori yelled, swinging one of his wooden things at the clay ball and sending it right back to us.

"Oh-" Tobi gasped.

"Shit," Deidara and I finished for him.

The clay ball exploded right by us, setting off the rest of the clay in the buckets, breaking the section of the dock that we were standing on and sending us into the water.

"Senpai! Senpai! Save Tobi!" Tobi exclaimed, clinging to the blond like his life depended on it.

"Tobi! Stand up! Un!" Deidara exclaimed, standing up to reveal that the water went only to about halfway up his chest and to the tip of my chin.

Tobi, his legs wound around Deidara's waist and his arms around Deidara's neck, released his Senpai and dropped into the water with a splash before standing up again. "Oh!"

"Let's just get out of here before the snapping turtle gets us," I muttered, squeezing the water out of my ponytail and tank top, which was beginning to get a little see-through.

"That was fun!" Tobi exclaimed, running to the shore and splashing Deidara and myself in the process. I flinched as the droplets struck my welts, making them sting all the more.

Deidara patted my head. "You're alright, Squirt," he said.

I looked up at Deidara and gave him a small, half-grin in reply.

His eyes traveled to my neck, and he bit his lip. "Hmm, you're gonna want to put something on that," he said, poking the one in the spot where my neck meets my collarbone. "Clay is actually a pretty good remedy. Un."

I nodded and shook myself off as we got out of the pond. "Alright. Mind if I have some clay, Senpai?"

Deidara nodded and we walked over to his cabin, where Tobi had begun drying off using Deidara's blanket, seriously pissing Deidara off even more.

My eyes widened at the sight of a shirtless Tobi. Even that boy trapped in a man's body was super built? I glanced down at myself and frowned. I really need to work out so I can be like the rest of these guys…

"Here," Deidara said, pulling his own jacket and shirt off and tossing them away before pulling on a large, dry tee. He walked over to me and grabbed below my chin, tilting my head back. He rubbed some wet clay on my neck and upper arms and upper chest, being careful not to irritate the welts.

"Thanks," I said. "…It's not going to explode, is it?" I asked worriedly.

Deidara laughed. "No. This isn't explosive clay. I made this type of clay specifically for this purpose, since Danna tends to get me with his poison pretty often…"

"Senpai, can Tobi have some?" Tobi asked, tilting his head to the side and pulling on one of Deidara's shirts, much to the blond's annoyance.

Deidara sighed and nodded, patting me on the shoulder before walking over to Tobi and handing him the clay. "You're a man, right? You can spread it on you yourself. Un," Deidara said, sitting on a chair and spreading the clay on himself as well.

Tobi began spreading the clay and humming a tuneless little song all the while.

When he was satisfied with his little plaster of clay, Tobi turned to me and grinned. "In five minutes, we'll wash the clay off and then Deidara Senpai will take you back to the cabin!"

I nodded and sat down. "Okay."

"Where have you been?" Tenten demanded as I waved good bye to Deidara. "And what happened to your neck?"

"Eh…poison ivy," I muttered, walking past her and into the cabin in search of dry clothes.

Sakura and Ino gasped. "Deidara Senpai gave you like a million hickeys!"

I stiffened before slamming my head into my locker…numerous times. "They are _not_ hickeys. They are welts from poison…ivy," I said, taking my tank top off and pulling on a dry one.

The door opened and slammed shut, and we all turned to see a still-cranky Kurenai. "Stupid Deidara lad me through the woods, and I lost him…" she muttered, pulling a twig out of her hair. She glanced up at us. "So what happened while I was chasing the idiot and getting stuck?"

"Oh, well, we just talked and got ready and stuff," Tenten said, glancing at me.

"Yeah, I watched them for you, Kurenai Sensei," Temari said, raising her hand.

Kurenai sighed and nodded before beginning to brush her hair. "Thank you, Temari. As you can see, I'm not ready yet, and I won't be for a while. Could you take the girls to morning ceremony for me?"

"Sure thing!" Temari said, grinning before turning to smirk at us. "Let's go, ladies," she said, parading us out the door.

As soon as the door was closed the girls surrounded me, demanding to know what was going on between me and Deidara. As much as I wanted to tell them about the explosions and battle with Sasori, Deidara had sworn me to secrecy.

"Guys, guys! We didn't _do_ anything. He just needed my help, ah, preparing for class. Tobi accidentally kicked something and sent it flying into a patch of poison ivy, so I was sent in to get it, okay?" I said, hoping they'd buy it.

"Poison ivy?" Naruto asked as he and his cabin and Kakashi joined us. Kakashi wasn't paying attention to a word we were saying, though, since his nose was buried in a book. "But, Andi," Naruto said. "You're not allergic to poison ivy. Remember on the hike? You trampled through it and didn't get affected at all!"

My ears burned red as the girls turned to look at me again, disbelief and doubt on their face.

"Holy damn what happened to your neck?" Kiba asked, pointing. He glanced at Kankuro as he and his cabin joined us. "Did someone have a little fun with you last night?"

"No! You guys want to know what happened? Really?" I asked, frustrated. They nodded.

"Deidara Senpai is having me help him in his battle against Sasori no Danna," I said. "There was a battle early this morning, and I was stuck and hit in the crossfire."

"…So…you're not secretly dating Deidara Senpai?" Temari asked.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Are you posi-?"

"Yes, I'm positive!" I exclaimed. "Now…can we go to the blacktop for morning ceremony already?"

"Yeah, I'm starving," Choji said. "Sooner we get to morning ceremony, the sooner we eat!"

And just like that, the mood was lightened and the Andi-Deidara discussion was dropped.

"So our first class is canoeing?" I asked Kankuro as we made our way to the pond after breakfast.

Kankuro shook his head. "Nope. It's fishing."

I almost tripped over my own feet. Fishing? Sasori no Danna was gonna _kill_ me!

"Welcome to fishing," Sasori said as we arrived at the dock; well, what was left of it.

"What happened here?" Naruto asked, staring and pointing at the dock. "Half of the dock is missing!"

"Well…" Sasori began, glaring at me from the corner of his eye. I swallowed and inched myself behind Gaara. "There was an…_incident_, earlier this morning, that damaged the dock."

"What are you doing?" Gaara murmured, turning his head to face me.

"Hiding," I whispered back. "Shh."

"Alright," Sasori said, clearing his throat for attention, silencing the gossiping Sakura and Ino. "Let's just get started on fishing, alright?"

"But the do-" Naruto began.

"I don't want to talk about it," Sasori said, fiercely cutting Naruto off. "Bait your lines and start fishing."

"You should listen to him, un!" Deidara yelled, sitting in a canoe in the middle of the pond. "Sasori no Danna is a real _Master Baiter_!"

Kankuro, Kiba, Naruto and I struggled to keep a straight face as Sasori's face slowly became a similar color to his hair. The others were either edging away from his wrath or groaning or shaking their heads in disgust.

"Seikō baai wa, kozō!" Sasori yelled, shaking his fist. He picked up the thing nearest him and loaded it onto the catapult that we had used during the battle. He aimed and pushed the button, sending chum and fish guts raining down on the terrified looking Deidara.

Deidara shrieks were cut off when a rather large chunk of chum landed in his mouth.

"I'd feel bad for him," Tenten said to me, "but he _totally_ deserved that."

"Yeah, but you have to admit," Kankuro said. "What Deidara Senpai said was hilarious!"

"Did you say something, brat?" Sasori asked, turning on Kankuro.

"N-no! Sorry, Sasori no Danna," he said, joining me behind Gaara.

"Guys, knock it off," Gaara said, sidestepping to the left. Kankuro and I did likewise, trying to remain hidden, but it really doesn't work out if you're bigger and taller than Gaara, like Kankuro was.

Sasori smirked. "Would you like to join Deidara in the pond?" he asked, gesturing over his shoulder at the frantically swimming Deidara.

"No, that's okay, Danna," Kankuro said.

Sasori nodded and turned away. "Oh, screw it," he said, marching over to us.

I never thought I'd see a guy nearly as short and thin as me pick up a guy as tall and large as Kankuro and hurl him into a lake. But I did, and Naruto, Kiba and I soon followed after Kankuro.

Note to self. Do _not_ piss Sasori no Danna off…

"Class with Itachi is tripled today," Sasuke said, bent at the waist and touching his toes with his fingertips.

"Uh-huh…" I said with a nod, leaning against a tree. "Is there a reason that you're stretching?"

Sasuke straightened and rolled his shoulders before nodding. "Yeah. We'll be training for the Chuunin Exams."

"I am so excited!" Lee yelled, hanging from a tree branch by his legs and pulling his body up over and over again at a ridiculously high speed. "I shall win and bring honor to Konohagakure High!"

"Not if Suna beats you," Gaara said, sitting near my feet at the base of the tree.

"Suna could _never_ beat Konoha!" Naruto said, grinning and doing pull-ups on the same tree branch that Lee was hanging from.

"Which school are you going to represent, Andi?" Hinata asked, sitting on the ground in a perfect split. "Since, you know, you're not from an Elite School…"

"_I _have to compete? I thought I'd be off the hook since I'm not from an Elite School!" I exclaimed.

"As if," Kiba said with an eyeroll. "Every camper is involved! …You'll represent Konoha, right?"

"No way!" Kankuro exclaimed, dropping down from the tree branch he was working out on. "Andi is Temari's replacement, so she's with us," he said, slinging an arm around my shoulder.

"I really don't care which school I represent…" I shrugged.

"Suna it is!" Temari said, coming out of nowhere, as usual, and patting me on the head.

"Aw, great," Naruto muttered. "First Sasuke represents Oto, now Andi is representing Suna…"

"It's not like I have a choice in the matter, dobe," Sasuke muttered. "It's not like I want to go to Oto High with Orochimaru…"

"Settle down," Itachi said, silently emerging from the trees. "We will now begin our training for the Chuunin exams.

"Twenty more push-ups, let's go!" Temari yelled, crouching on the ground beside me and yelling in my ear.

"Jeez, woman, stop yelling!" I grunted, doing the push-ups, immediately grateful for all the soccer practices and off-ice hockey sessions. If it weren't for those, I'd probably be dead or something…

"You're representing Suna!" Kankuro yelled. "Let's move, Squirt!"

"I don't see _you_ doing pushups!" I exclaimed.

He shrugged. "I don't do that kind of combat."

My trembling arms gave way beneath me, and I fell onto the soft grass but still managed to get my breath knocked out of me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my stomach.

"I, Squirt, use wooden weapons to fight my opponents. So far, we don't know your strong point, so we're just gonna train you until we find that strong point," Kankuro said, rolling his shoulders.

"Is there a less…._murderous_ way to find out?" I mumbled, my face in the grass.

Temari shrugged. "Well…you seemed to have a pretty good control over katanas… But who could train you in that? Itachi-san's specialty, aside from intimidation, is hand to hand combat…" she trailed off, thinking.

I forced myself into a sitting position and looked around at our little training area. Kiba, Naruto, Shino, Sakura, Hinata, Shikamaru, Ino and Choji were with Itachi, being trained in various ways as the _rookies_ representing Konoha High.

Apparently only kids fifteen and sixteen can compete in the exams while the rest of the campers watch. Neji, Lee and Tenten were being trained by Gai for some reason, even though he's a cabin counselor.

Not that it matters, really. Camp counselors really don't do much.

In fact, Asuma and Kurenai are sleeping under a tree while Kakashi reads his pervy book…

Sasuke was off training by himself, since the Oto High people hadn't arrived yet, and Temari was training me, Kankuro and Gaara…mainly me.

"Kisame-san!" Temari exclaimed suddenly.

"What about him?" I asked, reaching behind my head and pulling my ponytail out, due to the headache it gave me. I shook my head and fluffed my hair, trying to fix it before tying it off into two braids.

"He's a master swordsman," Temari said. "We'll get him to teach you, since he probably doesn't care about Kirigakure High, since he _did_ transfer from there to Konoha during his junior year…"

"That's not stalker-ish or anything," Kankuro muttered sarcastically.

"Hey! It was part of my initiation!" Temari said. "If I wanted in on the counselor staff without being pranked by Deidara-san, Hidan-san or Tobi-san, I had to memorize and be quizzed on the Akatsuki members' backgrounds!"

Kankuro and I exchanged glances. "Definitely stalker-ish," I said with a nod.

That comment received me a smack on the back of the head, compliments of Temari. "Andi! Don't you go agreeing with my brother! Now stay here while I find Kisame-san."

I nodded, grateful for the break.

"But you better have completed fifty sit-ups by the time I get back!"

…Or not.

I groaned and fell onto my back, staring up into the clouds which were partially blocking the sun, providing a nice, shaded little area.

"Well, get moving, Squirt," Kankuro said, lying beside me and getting into the sit-up position, his hands folded behind his head.

"Yeah, whatever," I mumbled, placing my hands at my side and drawing my knees up. I pulled the upper half of my body up until my chest nearly bumped my knees before going back down and repeating.

Sit-ups were no big deal, really. We did those all the time in soccer and hockey, so I was used to it.

"Aren't you gonna put your hands behind your head?" Kankuro asked, grunting.

I shook my head and let my breathing get in sync with the sit-ups. "No. Coach never let us. He said it was cheating, so I'm used to doing it this way."

"Hmm," Kankuro said, attempting it that way, but giving up and resorting back to folding his hands behind his head. "I hate sit-ups."

I chuckled a bit, but stopped since it was messing with my breathing. "Hey. Gaara. Why aren't you doing sit-ups?"

Gaara rolled his eyes. "You'll see on Wednesday," he stated.

"…Okay…"

"So, Squirt, I hear from Temari that you seem to have a skill with katanas?" Kisame said, making it sound more like a question.

I shrugged. "Apparently so. I hear you're a pro with a sword."

Kisame grinned a sharky grin and pulled out the wrapped thing from behind his back.

"_That_ is a big tampon," I said with a smirk.

Cue smack on the back of the head from Temari.

Kisame didn't seem to mind though. In fact, he laughed. "You're not so bad, kid. But no, this is not a tampon. It's my sword!"

My eyes widened as he whipped the white bandages off of it to reveal the craziest looking sword I had ever seen. The blade was blue and jagged, looking more like numerous, small blades combined than one large blade.

"This…" Kisame said, pointing to the blade. "…is Samehada, my sword, also known as Sharkskin. It doesn't slice; it cuts you to ribbons!"

My eyes widened all the more and I took a step back.

Kisame laughed and rewrapped his sword. "But…I was banned from using it on campers while unwrapped, so you're safe," he said with a toothy grin.

"O-oh…well, that's a relief," I said, scratching the back of my head.

Kisame grinned again. "Well, let's get your training started!"

I ducked my head, only to jump a second later to avoid getting my feet knocked out from under me. I dropped to my knees and rolled to my right and jumped back up, hearing the wind whistling to the left of my ear as Kisame swung Samehada downward.

Kisame swung, and I leaned back, the tip of Samehada barely missing me.

In one fluid movement, Kisame swung his sword around and nicked my shoulder with the hilt, throwing me off balance and knocking me to the ground, where I landed flat on my back.

My eyes widened and I rolled to the left as Samehada landed with a thud where I had been lying previously.

It swung down on me again, and I brought my katana up to defend myself.

Kisame was much stronger than me, so my arms dropped considerably and the swords were barely brushing my chest. With a grunt, I threw my arms forward and sent Kisame stumbling a few steps backward.

I jumped onto my feet and slapped the flat edge of my katana against Kisame's knuckles and fingers, making him wince a bit.

"Ow! Cheap shot, kid," Kisame said, shaking his head at me.

I gave him a guilty smile as we both lowered our weapons. "Sorry, Kisame Senpai…"

Yeah, Kisame wants me to start calling him Senpai…

"Sucker!" Kisame laughed, jabbing the rounded tip of his blade into my stomach, knocking me to the ground.

"Oof!" I grunted as my breath left me again and I landed hard on my ass. "Not cool, Kisame Senpai!"

He chuckled and extended a hand, helping me up. He placed a blue hand on my head and ruffled my hair. "You need to keep an eye out for cheap shots. Oto and Kusa are notorious for cheap shots."

I sighed. "Yes sir."

He grinned. "Alright, good. Let's go again."

I crouched and raised my katana, ready to continue training.

"Need…water…and…ice…" I moaned, slowly dragging my feet.

"Keep running, Squirt," Kisame said, spinning and running backwards so he was facing me. "I'm backwards and I'm still faster than you!"

"You have longer legs!" I said, slowly picking up my pace.

"Come on, we've only done five miles! Two more to go!" he said, spinning back around and taking off at full speed.

"Oh you have _got_ to be _kidding me_!" I groaned, shaking my head and struggling to catch up.

Normally running five miles wouldn't be so bad…if I were running with my team. With Kisame, a full grown, twenty-some year old man with really long legs is _very_ different. He's faster than people my age…_much_ faster.

"So, how was your training?" Lee asked, rewrapping his forearms, wrists and hands with white bandages. "I hope you found it youthful and invigorating!"

"I found it torturous and murderous…" I mumbled, leaning back against the tree and repositioning my ice pack. "But other than that, it was fun."

"You're lucky that Kisame-san is training you," Tenten said, slurping on some water while bandaging her legs. "He is the best swordsman I know!"

"He's not a bad slave-driver either," I said with a half-grin.

Neji tilted his head to the side. "Is he really that bad?"

I shook my head. "Naw, I'm just exaggerating…_kinda_. _But_ I haven't had this intense of a workout since…well, since Coach McGill had my hockey team train with the Mercyhurst Boys Varsity Team…"

"And it's only the first day," Kankuro said with a yawn. "Man, Temari got even harsher once you left, Squirt."

"What do you mean?" I asked, rolling and cracking my neck with a contented sigh.

"She made _me_ do push-ups and sit-ups and jumping-jacks and so on," Gaara said, arms folded across his chest and leaning against the tree opposite mine.

I raised my eyebrows. "Wow."

"What is taking those rookies so long?" Kankuro asked, propping his feet up on my knees. "I'm starving for dinner!"

I pushed his feet off of me, ignoring his grunt of pain, and shrugged. "How should I know? I only just got here."

"Hey guys!" Sakura yelled, waving at us as she and the rest of the _rookies_ made their way over to us. "How was training?"

"Wonderful," we all replied, Lee more enthusiastically than the rest of us.

"How was it for you?" Lee asked.

"It was great! But…Naruto over-worked himself again," she said, looking sympathetically at Naruto. The sympathy in her eyes soon vanished as she shook her head and returned her gaze to us. "Have you seen Sasuke?"

Gaara tilted his head upward, and we all looked up to see Sasuke reclining on the tree branch of the tree Gaara was leaning against. "Hey," he said with a wave.

"Sasuke!" Ino and Sakura waved. "How long have you been up there?"

"I just got here," he said, dropping down. "I was planning on surprising the dobe, but Gaara blew my cover," he shrugged.

"Teme," Naruto muttered, rubbing his shoulder.

"Here, Naruto…" Hinata said, handing Naruto a small bottle of what looked like ointment.

"Thanks, Hinata!" Naruto said, grinning at her, oblivious to her blush.

Kiba, on the other hand, noticed it. "You're blushing," he said, poking her cheek with a smirk.

Hinata looked away and sat down beside me.

I patted her on the head. Naruto would realize her affection for him sooner or later…most likely later, though. That boy really was oblivious…

"Ugh, the Chuunin Exams are such a drag…" Shikamaru muttered, folding his hands behind his head.

"Why do you even have them?" I asked curiously.

"To strengthen our bond with the other Elite Schools," Sakura said with a shrug. "And you have to be a Chuunin to become a counselor-in-training, and then a counselor."

"So…Temari is a Chuunin?" I asked.

They nodded.

"Of course, if you become a Chuunin, it isn't _required_ to become a counselor-in-training; that is totally optional. But it is required to be a Chuunin before becoming a counselor-in-training," Ino explained, stretching her long, slender legs.

"Hmm," I said with a nod.

"Are we all here?" Shino asked, looking around.

We all glanced around before nodding. "Yup. We're just missing the counselors," Kiba said.

"Present!" Asuma said, breathing smoke out of his mouth as he and Kakashi and Kurenai approached us. "Have good training sessions?"

We all just nodded as we stood up and walked over to them, ready for dinner.

"I'm glad you did!" Asuma said, beaming at us.

Kurenai grinned while Kakashi nodded.

"Tomorrow's training session will be even tougher!" Asuma added.

Oh…the joy…


	14. Camp Konoha 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

_"Psst…!_" someone hissed through the window above my bed.

I groaned and rolled over, slamming the pillow over my ears.

"_Psst!_ Squirt!" the person hissed again. "Wake up!"

Mumbling quiet profanities, I pushed myself up off of my bed, forcing myself into a sitting position. I blinked tiredly as I stared blankly at the window, where I was greeted with the sight of Deidara, his hair untied and messy and still in his pajamas.

"Deidara Senpai? What is it?" I asked quietly and tiredly, rubbing my eyes. I glanced at my clock and frowned. "It's only six AM…"

"You're gonna help me and Tobi prepare for tomorrow. Un," he stated.

I shook my head. "No way. Sasori no Danna chucked me into the pond yesterday; I am _not_ going through that again," I muttered defiantly, crossing my arms over my chest.

"It's not an attack on Danna. It's something Pein wants me to do for the Chuunin Exams, un," Deidara said, leaning against the window frame. "So come on."

"Why is it always me?" I asked.

"I caught you as a lone camper and you owe me. And you're fun and better at handling explosives than Tobi. Un," he explained.

At that, I couldn't help but smile a very small smile. "Okay, okay, give me a minute," I said, reaching out and closing the window curtain.

I slid out of bed and made my way over to my wooden chest and pulled out shorts, a bra, socks, a tank top and a cutoff tee.

I pulled those on quietly, careful not to wake the other girls or Kurenai, and then crept over to the door. I crouched on the ground and pulled on my sneakers before straightening up. I grabbed my brush off of Kurenai's dresser, where we all keep our brushes, and quickly ran it through my hair before tying it off in two braids.

I slowly pulled the door open and tiptoed out before silently shutting the door.

"Ready?" Deidara asked, carrying a box full of clay, dye, matches and numerous other things whose purpose I did _not_ want to know.

I nodded and followed him wordlessly to his cabin, being careful not to get whacked by the branches that he inadvertently sent my way.

"Senpai! You're back! And you brought Andi-chan!" Tobi yelled, greeting myself and Deidara and then hugging me tightly.

I blinked a few times before hugging him back and patting him on the back. "Hey, Tobi-san."

"Hello, Andrea," another voice said.

I stiffened and leaned to the left, peering past Tobi to see Sasori no Danna, sitting calmly on Deidara's desk.

"Um…hi, Sasori no Danna…" I said, waving at him. "You're not still sore about the explosives, because I'm sorry, and-"

Sasori lifted a hand, silencing me with the simple gesture. "This has nothing to do with that. Pein is having me help the brat prepare for the Chuunin Exams."

I sighed in relief. I really did not want to have to constantly be on the lookout for attacks on me… "So what are we doing, exactly?"

"Making fireworks!" Temari exclaimed, kicking the door open and entering dramatically. Tobi and I jumped in shock and ended up landing on either one of Deidara's feet, sending the three of us tumbling into Sasori, who merely stepped to the side and smirked as we crashed to the floor.

"Temari! What have I told you about kicking my door down, un?" Deidara demanded, disentangling himself from Tobi and jumping to his feet.

Tobi grabbed my arm and jumped up, pulling me to my feet as well.

"I'm pretty sure you said something along the lines of _if you do it again I'll blow you up, un! _…Right?" Temari asked, smirking after imitating Deidara's voice and way of speech.

"Danna! Why did you let us fall?" Tobi asked, turning to Sasori.

Sasori just smirked and shrugged. "I saw no reason to."

"And you call me the brat! It was pretty bratty of you to let us fall, un!" Deidara yelled to Sasori.

"It isn't my fault that you're so clumsy, brat!" Sasori yelled.

"Why are you such a grouch, Danna, un?" Deidara demanded.

"Why are you such a brat? Don't talk to your Danna like that!" Sasori exclaimed.

"Okay, break it up," Temari said, putting her hands on either one of their shoulders. "You two argue like an old married couple!"

"Heheh, no wonder Senpai calls Sasori _Danna_…" Tobi said with a chuckle.

Deidara and Sasori stiffened and turned on Temari and Tobi, knocking them both to the ground. "Shut up, brat! Un!" they yelled, Deidara being the only one saying _un_.

"…I don't get it," I said with a shrug.

Temari got off of the floor and looked at me. "_Danna_ either means master…or husband," she said with a smirk.

"Eh, why does Deidara Senpai call Sasori no Danna _Danna_ in the first place?" I asked.

"Because they're lovers!" Temari exclaimed, receiving a punch in the back from the angry redhead and blond, knocking her to the floor.

"Because Sasori no Danna was Senpai's tutor in school," Tobi said. "Sasori no Danna told him to call him that!"

"Ohh…" I said, nodding in understanding. "That makes sense… So when are we making the fireworks?"

The firework making business was fun work. Sasori made wooden capsules that Tobi and Temari painted while Deidara and I mixed different explosive powders together with dye and some of his special clay.

He didn't want Temari or Tobi to handle the explosives with us, since he said they're both too clumsy, and he didn't want his cabin blowing up. I have steady hands, though, so I was fine.

"Come on, Squirt," Temari said, getting up and placing a hand on my head. "I'll take you back to the cabin before the others wake up, alright?"

I sealed my final firework before handing it off to Deidara and nodding at Temari. "Yeah, I'm done now."

"Thanks for the help, Squirt," Deidara said, grinning and nodding at me.

"Yeah, we finished faster because you helped, Andi-chan!" Tobi exclaimed, giving me a closed-eye grin. Sasori merely nodded in agreement at me and Temari.

"See ya," Temari and I said, waving to the three guys before heading out of the cabin and over to my cabin.

"So today should be fun," Temari said, folding her hands behind her head as we walked through the foresty path.

"Why would more training be fun?" I asked with a groan, my muscles still sore from yesterday.

Temari grinned. "Because students and teachers are coming from the other Elite schools today. So you get to meet Baki, Suna's official Chuunin Exam trainer!" she exclaimed excitedly. "He's great, he really is."

"About how many kids from each school come?" I asked curiously.

She shrugged. "It differs, really, but you're allowed no more than twenty. Otogakure, that new school that Sasuke goes to, is only bringing seven, plus Sasuke. And Sunagakure just has you and my brothers. Kusagakure has a few, Kirigakure isn't coming this year, and neither are Takigakure or Amegakure or Kumogakure or Iwagakure…"

I blinked. "How many Elite Schools are there?" I asked.

"Nine Elite, but there are a few others that are on their way to becoming Elite, like Getsugakure and Hoshigakure and Uzushiogakure and Yugakure and Yukigakure and Moyagakure," she said, counting them off on her fingers. "Takumi and Kagero want to be Elite too, but they're not even close!"

"Mhmm…" I said, nodding and trying to make sense of the confusing, Japanese-sounding words.

"The five _main_ Elite schools, however, are Konohagakure, Sunagakure, Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure," Temari said matter-of-factly. "They decide collectively on whether or not a school is worthy of becoming an Elite."

"Why do the schools have such complicated names?" I exclaimed, exasperated.

Temari laughed. "Well, we normally abbreviate them by getting rid of the _gakure_, but I wanted to mess with your mind a bit," she said, slinging an arm around my shoulders, getting me in a headlock and giving me a noogie.

"Gah! Knock it off!" I exclaimed, pulling myself away from her and grinning.

"There you are, Andi…"

Temari and I froze and looked ahead of us to see a glaring Kurenai Sensei with the rest of my cabin behind her.

"Um…h-hey, guys…" I said nervously with a little wave. "Eh, good morning!"

"Why did you leave the cabin so early this morning?" Kurenai asked me.

"…You heard me?" I asked.

Kurenai nodded. "Hinata woke up when you were leaving, so she told the rest of us."

Hinata blushed and looked at the ground, ashamed and embarrassed about having ratted me out.

I shrugged. "I was with Temari," I replied, not sure if I was allowed to tell them about making fireworks with Deidara and Sasori and Tobi.

Kurenai looked at Temari in the eyes, and the two had a wordless exchange. Temari nodded and silently left without a word.

"Well, since you're up and dressed and read, let's head over to Morning Ceremony," Kurenai said, spinning around and beginning the walk over to the blacktop.

I sighed in relief and followed, only to have the rest of the girls drop back and talk to me.

"Where were you? You were with Deidara Senpai again, right? Well?" Ino asked me all in a rush.

"One question at a time, sheesh," I muttered, letting out a yawn and stretching. "But yeah, I was with Deidara Senpai."

Tenten leaned toward me, hanging on my every word while the other girls stared at me with interest. I rolled me eyes and shook my head. "Not like that. Sasori no Danna, Tobi-san and Temari were there as well."

Ino's eyes bugged out, and I really felt like slapping the perverted look off of her face. Instead, I facepalmed, slapping my own face.

"We were…working on a project for the Chuunin Exams tomorrow. Jeez, and you guys call _me_ the pervert," I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest.

When we arrived at the blacktop, I noticed that it was considerably more…crowded.

"Hey, Squirt!" Kankuro yelled, waving in my direction, successfully attracting the attention of numerous newcomers, causing them to stare at me.

I mentally cursed Kankuro as I left the girls and made my way through the crowd toward the loud boy. "What?" I asked bitterly.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Kankuro said with a snicker while poking my cheek. "I just wanted you to meet Baki, our trainer for the Exams," he said, pointing over his shoulder at a tall, tanned, bald man with tiger-stripe-type face markings on his cheeks.

"…Hi," I said, squirming slightly under his intimidating stare.

He turned to Kankuro and Gaara. "You really think this little Squirt is good enough to represent Suna?" he asked skeptically.

I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest. "You people…always calling me _Squirt_…" I muttered, glaring and looking away from the three.

Kankuro laughed and ruffled my hair. "She may not look it, but she's pretty tough. She's got a mean right hook," he said, chuckling nervously as he remembered me one of the bonfires. I had punched him once when he scared the shit out of me during a scary story by poking me in the sides during a suspenseful moment.

"Attention, please!" Tsunade yelled, making everyone fall silent and face forward to look at her. "I would like to welcome, on behalf of Camp Konoha, those of you from Sunagakure, Otogakure, Kusagakure, and, of course, Konohagakure."

She paused, and the counselors took the opportunity to quickly applaud. When all was silent again, Tsunade cleared her throat and began speaking again.

"As some of you may know, the Chuunin Exams is a chance for those among the Elite Schools to strengthen our bonds and our students. I would like to give a special welcome to Otogakure, having only been founded three years ago, achieved Elite status two years and entered the Chuunin Exams for the first time ever this year!" Tsunade said enthusiastically, though everyone could see her glaring at a tall, pale, snakelike man who seemed to represent Oto.

Everyone cheered, either warily or enthusiastically, while those of Otogakure stood there with serious and somewhat-deadly expressions on their faces.

There were eleven of them, plus Sasuke, all of them equally weird looking. There was a clump of three, one with silver hair and big glasses, a tan guy with black glasses, and another tan guy with regular glasses. The two tan guys were wearing weird, purple masks.

Then there was another cluster of three, consisting of two males and a female. The girl had long black hair and bells for earrings. There was a guy with a weird fuzzy thing on his back, as well as bandages covering his entire face, save his left eye. The last guy with them had spiky, dark hair and weird headgear.

The other five were the oddest of all. One was a redheaded girl with a really angry expression on her face as she glared at the younger kids. Then there was a really tan guy with spider tattoos up and down his arms, as well as Siamese twins with silver hair and sneers on their faces. There was a large buy with tufts of orange hair and a guy with white hair and a relatively calm expression.

Sasuke chose to stand with his cabin rather than the Oto people, and I don't blame him. I found my gaze drawn to the group of five, seeing as they were the most threatening looking, as well as the most interesting.

The redheaded girl caught my stare and glared at me, and I quickly looked away, returning my gaze to the back of Gaara's head.

"Orochimaru," Tsunade said, staring at the snake man. "Why don't you introduce your students to us…?"

Orochimaru smirked and made his way to the front of the crowd, his students following close behind, this time Sasuke included.

"Thank you, Tsunade-hime," Orochimaru said, casting the woman something between a smile and a sneer. "Six of these students of mine are seniors or alumni, and therefore unable to participate, but they wished to witness the exams. This is Kabuto, Kimimaro, Sakon/Ukon, Tayuya, Jirobo and Kidomaro," he said, pointing to the silver-haired guy with glasses, the white-haired one, the Siamese twins, the redheaded girl, the orange-haired guy and the guy with the spider tattoos.

The first two remained expressionless while the others sneered or smirked.

"The ones that will be participating are Kin, Dosu, Zaku, Yoroi, Misumi and Sasuke," Orochimaru said, gesturing to the other girl, the guy with bandages, the headgear guy, the two with glasses and Sasuke.

All were smirking, except for Sasuke, who had his arms crossed and was glaring at nothing in particular.

"How about you, Baki? I take it you're representing Suna in the stead of Sabaku-san, the Kazekage…" Tsunade said.

Baki nodded and put his hands on the head of Kankuro and Gaara. "My team attends here, but to those who don't know them, this is Gaara Sabaku and Kankuro Sabaku. The third one," he said, moving his hand from Gaara's head to mine, "is Andrea Scully, and isn't a student at Suna, but she'll represent us."

Kankuro smirked and nudged me, nodding in the direction of the numerous people staring in our direction. I shot him a glare before turning my gaze toward the ground.

"Kannabi, why don't you introduce your team?" Tsunade said, and I sighed in relief as the gazes were pulled away from me and toward a tall man with red hair.

He nodded and gestured to three males standing before him. "Shiore, Tsuba, Midori," he stated simply, pointing to a male with long, dark hair that looked rather girly, a guy with short brown hair and a guy with grey-brown hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"Welcome," Tsunade said, nodding at them. "Now I'll introduce Konoha's participants. Neji, Tenten, Lee, Sakura, Naruto, Choji, Shikamaru, Ino, Kiba, Hinata and Shino," she said, pointing each of them out. "And their trainers, Asuma, Kurenai, Kakashi and Gai."

The four said trainers waved before going back to their natural poses, meaning Gai did his _good-guy_ pose, Kurenai and Asuma leaned against the basketball hoops and Kakashi whipped out his pervy book and read it with one hand in his pocket.

"Now…let's all head to the mess hall for breakfast, and then we'll spend the rest of the day training!" Tsunade said, hopping off of the stand she was on and heading in the direction of the mess hall. "Let's go!"

"Is it just me, or are those five Oto students staring at us…?" Tenten whispered to me. Tenten, who was sitting across from me, had a perfect view of the Oto table. I swiveled around in my seat, swallowed, and spun back around.

"Yup, they're staring at us," I nodded in confirmation, grabbing my orange juice. "That spider guy creeps me out…"

"Those Siamese twins creep me out!" Ino exclaimed quietly. "I'm just glad they're not entering. Imagine going up against one of them!"

"Eh, those twins don't look so tough," Kankuro said with a shrug. "I mean, they wear lipstick! Tch, I bet I could take them on…"

"Hm, me too," Kiba said with a smirk.

"Doubt it," Kankuro snorted, receiving a punch in the upper arm in return. "I'd probably have to come rescue you if you got in a fight with them…"

"That's not true! I'm an awesome fighter!" Kiba exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes and smirked as I nibbled on my toast, watching the two boys fight animatedly. Then I got a weird feeling in my gut, and a shiver went down my spine.

I glanced over my shoulder before turning back around, hoping that I only imagined that murderous look in Tayuya's eyes.

"Is that a-"

"Tankui? Yes."

"And is it going-"

"Into a gourd? Yes."

"And Gaara's gonna-"

"Carry it around and fight with it? Yes."

I blinked and stared at Kankuro like he was crazy before returning my gaze to Gaara, who was just now putting a giant gourd on his back. I tilted my head to the side, and saw that it looked a lot like his nature pet he made on one of the first days.

Then I watched as Baki carried a, for some reason weird unknown to me, tanuki, a creature resembling a brown raccoon, in a cage toward Gaara. Then Gaara opened the cage, reached in with his _bare hands_ and grabbed the tanuki before placing it on his shoulder.

Then the tanuki, who Gaara was calling Shukaku, crawled into the gourd of its own accord.

"…That was probably the weirdest thing I have ever seen," I said. Then I turned and my eyes widened. "I take that back. _This_ is the weirdest thing I have ever seen."

"Shut it, Squirt! I tripped, okay?" Kankuro exclaimed, struggling to get out of the rather provocative position he fell into with his puppet.

I knew it was an accident, but I couldn't help but laugh. "Playing with your sex toys, Kankuro?" I asked, still laughing as I avoided the wooden limb he threw at me.

"Oh, god, another pervert…" Baki muttered, shaking his head.

I smirked as I bent over and helped Kankuro out of the messy pile and back onto his feet. He shot me a half-hearted glare for teasing him and then went about picking up the broken puppets he had tripped over.

I crouched beside him and watched in interest as he put the puppets back together. It was fascinating, really, how he could do that. And he treated the puppets with such care. He never screwed a screw in too tight or too loose, he polished the wood and put special liquid on it to keep it from cracking.

Then he filled the puppets with weapons, and that's when it got _really_ interesting.

"Hey, Squirt," someone said, casting a long shadow over me.

I turned around and squinted, blocking the sun with my hands. I grinned up at the person upon recognition. "Hey, Kisame Senpai. What's up?"

"I'm here to train you. Duh…" Kisame said, shouldering Samehada and rolling his eyes.

"But Baki Sensei said that he's gonna train me," I said, pointing my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of said man.

Kisame raised an eyebrow. "Is he any good with a sword?" he asked, directing the question toward Baki.

Baki shook his head. "If Andrea's specialty is kenjutsu, it'd be best if you taught her, Kisame no Danna," he said, bowing his head respectfully at the end.

I looked back and forth between Kisame and Baki, slightly confused over numerous things. What is kenjutsu, how do these two know each other and why does Baki call him Danna?

"Alright, let's go, Squirt," Kisame said, grabbing my upper arm and literally lifting me off of the ground and placing me on my feet. He put his hand on my shoulder and steered me away as I waved to Gaara and Kankuro.

"Danna? Kenjutsu? What?" I asked as he led me away.

"Kenjutsu is the art of the sword. He called me Danna because I am highly respected for my prowess in the art of Kenjutsu. And I'm just naturally sexy," Kisame replied.

"Naturally se- hey! I didn't even ask that!" I exclaimed.

He laughed. "Oh, I though that's what your _What?_ question meant..." he said, ruffling my hair.

"That's ridiculous, Kisame Senpai," I said, shooting him a look.

He grinned. "I was just messing with you, Squirt."

"Heads up!" Kisame yelled, chucking tennis ball after tennis ball at me, making me dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge every one. I'd already gotten hit by quite a few, but that's why we're using tennis balls instead of golf balls.

…Yeah, he had originally wanted to use golf balls.

"Alright, that's enough," Kisame said, dropping the ball he was holding to the floor.

I groaned and collapsed on the ground, worn out from the past three hours of training. The training consisted mainly of working out, running, swordplay and avoiding tennis balls.

"Catch," he said, tossing me a water bottle.

I nodded at him in thanks before unscrewing the cap off and dumping the water onto my face, my mouth wide open so I could catch some of the water.

Kisame laughed and sat beside me, discarding his shirt and hanging it on a tree branch. "Tired?"

"Mhmm…" I mumbled, sitting up and peeling my own shirt off, leaving me in my tank top and shorts. "We done for the day?"

"Hell no!" Kisame said, laughing. "We're gonna train until you drop unconscious from exhaustion!"

I groaned again and fell backwards, landing on my back. I sighed and let my eyes wander to the skies, and I began to watch the clouds drift by slowly. Maybe I could fake passing out from exhaustion. It was worth a shot.

I let my eyes fall shut and my breathing slow and steady itself.

Something hard smacked into my stomach, awaking me with a grunt.

"Aww…Kisame Senpai…" I groaned, rubbing where his fist had landed and smiling a bit in satisfaction at my starting-to-get-defined abs. Maybe this training wasn't so bad after all…

"Alright, more tennis balls," Kisame said, jumping energetically to his feet. "This time, avoid them and deflect them with your katana!"

Fun, fun…

"I never thought I would be so happy for dinner…" Ino said, collapsing across from me at our table in the mess hall. "I thought I would die during training!"

"Same here," I mumbled, mouth full of mashed potatoes. "Kisame Senpai _really_ works you to death…"

"So does Baki," Kankuro groaned, rubbing his arms. "And fighting Gaara is the worst…" he said, casting a sidelong glance at his younger brother. I looked back and forth between them, wondering how someone smaller and scrawnier than Kankuro could give him such a hard time during the battle.

Then Shukaku crawled over Gaara's shoulder and jumped onto the table, helping himself to Kankuro's roll.

"Hey! Shoo, you stupid rodent!" Kankuro exclaimed, waving his hand in the little tanuki's face.

Shukaku bared his teeth and made a weird hissing/growling sound before snatching the roll and returning to Gaara's shoulder.

"Aw, don't be mean, Kankuro. He's cute," I said, slowly holding my hand out to the little creature, who decided to narrow his beady little eyes and snap his teeth right in front of my fingers.

I pulled my hand back and glared. "It's a little demon in disguise!"

"Shukaku isn't friendly to others," Gaara said, holding his hand up, only for Shukaku to nuzzle against it affectionately. Gaara patted the creature on the head before returning to his dinner.

"Kiba, what are you doing?" Tenten asked, grabbing Kiba's face as he turned toward the door for about the twentieth time.

"Hana and mother are coming up tonight instead of tomorrow, so I can train with Akamaru for a bit," he said, facing us but his eyes on the door. "I can't wait to see him again!"

"Who is Akamaru? Your brother or something?" I asked, swatting Kankuro's hand as he attempted to take my roll.

Naruto laughed. "He's not his brother! Akamaru is Kiba's pet dog!" he said, resulting in him getting conked on the head by Kiba.

"Akamaru isn't a pet. He's my best friend," Kiba said defensively, glaring at the sore, muttering blond. "And he should be here any minute!"

As if on cue, the doors to the mess hall flew open and in ran a white dog. To say it was big was an understatement. The thing was about the size of a pony!

He jumped and tackled Kiba to the floor, licking and slobbering all over Kiba's laughing face.

I grinned. "Awe, he's cute," I said, starting to reach my hand out, but pulling it back for fear he was a devil in disguise, like the nasty Shukaku.

Akamaru leaned his head forward and bumped my hand with it, almost grinning at me.

I laughed in relief and scratched him behind his ear, laughing all the more as Akamaru's thumping tail nailed Kiba in the stomach over and over again.

Hinata giggled as well and moved over toward me so she could pet Akamaru as well. I wiped my hand on my shorts before turning back to my dinner, gasping when I realized my roll was missing.

"Kankuro!" I exclaimed. "Give it back!"

"It wasn't me; it was the demon!" he said, pointing at the tanuki.

I swear, if it was even scientifically possible, that that little rodent was snickering as it nibbled on my roll from his perch on Gaara's shoulder.

"Hey, Squirt," Kisame said as soon as me and my three cabins walked out of the mess hall, along with Shukaku and Akamaru.

"Please, no more training!" I begged, falling to my knees and shaking my folded hands desperately.

Kisame stared at me before smirking and chuckling. "Gee, Squirt," he said, reaching down and ruffling my hair. "I'm not gonna train ya! You just left your katana back at the training grounds, so you need to go get it!"

I blinked stupidly for a moment before jumping back to my feet and rubbing the back of my head embarrassedly. "Heheh…right…" I said, dashing off.

"Lone camper!" Tobi yelled.

I skidded to a stop and Tenten ran over to me, and the two of us waved innocently at the clay-bearing Tobi and Deidara.

"Oh shit…" Deidara muttered, tossing the bird high in the air.

"Not again…" Tobi groaned right before the clay exploded in their faces.

Tenten and I exchanged glances and a laugh before walking to the training fields at a leisurely pace.

"The Chuunin Exams will be great! Once I become a Chuunin, I'll be able to become a counselor next year with Neji and Lee and Temari, and maybe even Kankuro, if he makes it," Tenten said, chatting animatedly to me.

"We need to go left here, Tenten," I said, grabbing her elbow and steering her away from the archery grounds and back onto the correct path.

"Right," she said, barely taking a moment to breathe before continuing to talk. "And once I'm a Chuunin, my dad said he'd get me more weapons, like a mace or something! And-"

"Shh!" I hissed, holding my arm out, stopping Tenten in her tracks. "Do you…hear that?" I asked her quietly.

Her ears perked as she looked silently around the clearing.

"-of course, Orochimaru-sama. The Sound Five will be taking care of the competition," a man's voice said.

Chuckling was heard, followed by a smooth, snakelike voice that I recognized as Orochimaru's. "Excellent, Kabuto. We don't want anyone getting in the way of the match between _my_ Sasuke and the Sunagakure brat…"

"Are you sure those two will end up fighting in the finals, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked.

"Do you doubt me, Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked.

"Of course not, Orochimaru-sama. I apologize," Kabuto said. "Shall we return to the guest cabins?"

"Yes, I am quite tired…" Orochimaru said.

Tenten and I exchanged glances before quickly jumping, or scrambling in my case, up a tree in order to remain hidden from the two men as they emerged from the woods.

"And you're quite sure that the Sound Five will be able to take them out?" Orochimaru asked.

Kabuto smirked. "Are you doubting me now, Orochimaru-sama?"

Orochimaru chuckled. "Watch it, Kabuto. Just because you're currently my number one, it doesn't mean you're irreplaceable. I'm still in contact with Guren, and-"

"Forgive me, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said hurriedly. "I was out of line."

Orochimaru said something else, but he and Kabuto were now too far away for me and Tenten to hear.

After a minute of silence, Tenten and I turned to each other. "What…were they talking about…_taking care of the competition_…?" I asked nervously.

Tenten shrugged and jumped out of the tree. "I don't know, Andi, but I highly doubt they were talking about catering to them… But we should get your katana and then back to the cabins right away."

I nodded and dropped out of the tree, landing beside her before breaking out in a sprint toward the training field.

"Well, well, well…" a deep voice said with a chuckle. "Look what we have here; two little competitors, just begging to be taken out before the Exams even begin…"

Tenten and I froze before slowly turning around to face the three from Kusagakure, gazing maliciously at us. I clutched my newly retrieved katana to my choice, freezing up in fear at the advancing men.

Tenten and I subconsciously rotated so that we were standing back-to-back, staring at the three Kusa students.

"You sure this is a good idea, Shiore?" Tsuba asked the one who I presumed was the leader. "After all, we could get disqualified if we're caught…"

Shiore chuckled darkly before pushing a strand of his long hair behind his ear. "Look around, Tsuba, Midori…we're in the middle of the woods. _No one_ is around to see this. And by the time the girls regain consciousness, the Exams will be over…" he stated.

I felt the blood chill in my veins at the sound of his voice, and I started to slowly pull my katana out of its sheath.

Something small, hard and metallic was thrown at my hand, making me drop my weapon in shock. The katana was quickly snatched up by Shiore, who unsheathed it and ran his tongue along the blade. I shivered.

"You won't be needing this, dearie," he said, dropping the sheath and poising to strike me with my own weapon.

My eyes snapped shut of their own accord, and I flinched, waiting for the blow.

…But it never came. Instead, I heard several grunts and a threatening voice, saying, "Touch them and you die."

The Kusa students laughed. "Three against one? This'll be easy," Midori stated.

"Hn."

More grunts were heard before silence filled the clearing.

I opened my eyes and was shocked to see the three Kusa students lying unconscious in a heap, and Tobi glaring at them. I turned to Tenten and saw that her eyes were still squeezed shut in fear.

I tapped her on the shoulder, and her eyes opened cautiously. They widened in surprise at the sight of Tobi and the three Kusa students.

"T-Tobi-san?" I said quietly, reaching a hand out and placing it on Tobi's shoulder.

His eyes snapped up, and his serious, threatening face disappeared, replaced with a happy, one-eyed smiled. "Are you and Tenten alright, Andi-chan?"

I nodded. "What hap- Did you- I mean- …How?" I finally managed to splutter out.

Tobi shrugged and hugged me and Tenten quickly, wrapping his arms around us and leaning us into his firm chest.

"Those mean students were gonna hurt Tenten and Andi-chan. Tobi couldn't let that happen…" he said, releasing us and patting us on the head.

He stretched his leg and kicked my katana and its sheath into the air, catching the sheath first and then the katana _with_ the sheath. He smiled as he handed it over to me. "Be careful with your weapon, Andi-chan. A weapon is an extension of the body!"

I swallowed and nodded, taking my weapon from him and smiling gratefully.

He grinned back. "Now, come on you two. Tobi will escort you back to camp and make sure no more meanies get you!"

Tenten and I exchanged relieved yet incredulous glances.

How in the hell did Tobi whip out a can of that major-ass-whooping on the three Kusa students without breaking a sweat?

One thing was for sure: the Chuunin Exams tomorrow were gonna be intense!


End file.
